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nico_suave
Dec 27, 2004, 5:54 PM
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I've just receive news from a climber friend in the Railey/Ton Sai area:
"I stood on the beach and looked at the biggest wave of
my life coming at us here on tonsay,we are all well
and only few kayakers died, the hight ground has saved
us,will write more with time,still in shock,it was
like a christmas present from the Gods"
we are supposed to be there in less than two weeks. Still waiting for some info to see what help we can do or bring...
Nico
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hasbeen
Dec 27, 2004, 5:58 PM
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http://www.8a.nu/site2/
To make the easier to read. It has a great pic on the wave hitting Railay with the caption, "the photographer was later washed into a bar".
From the above report, almost certainly Cat's climbing shop is gone. Hopefully they're okay. For those of you heading over, maybe contact them to see what they can use. I'm not sure what they'll need. The buildings over there are easily re-built. They may need climbing gear, which is sort of expensive to get where most things are cheap. As soon as I find out what's needed I'll be sending stuff over but if someone wants to take it with them that would work better.
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csgambill
Dec 27, 2004, 6:51 PM
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A word of warning to anyone traveling to Southern Thailand in the near future... or any other tsunami hit area.
I think it's great that some of you want to go help out with the cleanup and getting things back in some semblance of order, I love the area and would love to do something, but be careful over there. Thailand is a relatively modern place with a relatively high amount of infrastucture to deal with such a catastorophe, but there are going to be outbreaks of disease (lots of bodies decaying, overflowing sewage systems etc... morbid but necessary to take into consideration) and I'm guessing the water supply could become contaminated. Again, I'm guessing this won't be as much of a problem as in India or other places were more people were killed. So to anyone going over there in the near future, use discretion, be careful and good luck.
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jt512
Dec 27, 2004, 7:13 PM
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In reply to: Does anyone know whether or not geological agencies posted any warning whatsoever from the time of the earthquake till the tsunamis started to hit? If not why?
I heard on NPR this morning that no tsunami warnings were issued because in that part of the Pacific has not been equipped with buoys that sense tidal waves, which are used in other parts of the ocean. We actually had a tsunami warning here in SoCal -- maybe 8 years ago -- issued by National Tsunami Warning Center, which I'd never hear of before. They closed the beaches, but the forecasted tsunami never materialized.
-Jay
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philbox
Moderator
Dec 27, 2004, 11:32 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: Does anyone know whether or not geological agencies posted any warning whatsoever from the time of the earthquake till the tsunamis started to hit? If not why? I heard on NPR this morning that no tsunami warnings were issued because in that part of the Pacific has not been equipped with buoys that sense tidal waves, which are used in other parts of the ocean. We actually had a tsunami warning here in SoCal -- maybe 8 years ago -- issued by National Tsunami Warning Center, which I'd never hear of before. They closed the beaches, but the forecasted tsunami never materialized. -Jay
I think you must mean the Indian Ocean Jay.
The Tsunami warning centre knew that there would be a tsunami but were unable to get the warning out due to not having any contacts in that part of the world. This was a result of the fact that tsunamis are so rare in this oceanic basin. The earthquake detectors showed a sufficiently large earhtquake at such a shallow depth and across such a long fault line that a tsunami was inevitable. There was simply no system in place.
The waves reached as far as Africa and south western Australia. The scale of this disaster is almost unfathomable.
Information from the population areas closest to the epicentre is still scant. A rumour going around at the moment is that there could be as many as 30,000 dead in one isolated island chain. 10,000 dead are reported in the capital of Aceh province on the island of Java, this city is quite close to the epicentre.
This will only get worse folks before it improves. The true scale may never be known. More graphic pictures and video are coming out by the hour. This will be the best documented tsunami ever recorded.
The very interesting thing for me is that the straits of Molucca where the climbing on the Thai peninsular exists is on the other side of the island from where the under sea quake occured. For the wave to wrap around the island and charge down this funnel shaped strait is almost incomprehensible in that it caused such destruction. Grab a map or an atlas and check it out.
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happiegrrrl
Dec 28, 2004, 2:24 AM
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My friend still hasn't sent word if he's okay. I know it's a catastrope zone, and communications must be in shambles, but now the waiting is not feeling so good....prayers and thoughts for Jim and his friends, if you can take a moment.
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simianboy
Dec 28, 2004, 3:23 AM
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Did anybody get hurt in Rai Lay by the recent tidal waves?
How is the situation there now? Is transportation to and from the peninsular difficult now?
I'd planned to go there in January but not sure what to do now.
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nas
Dec 28, 2004, 3:45 AM
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http://www.8a.nu/site2/
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nas
Dec 28, 2004, 3:46 AM
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http://www.8a.nu/site2/
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wyo_climber
Dec 28, 2004, 4:50 AM
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Have some friends there now. I just recieved word that all are OK, but will take up to a week and a half to get back home as traveling across land to the nearest airport will take some time.
In addition I'm not sure on their travel document status, but that might come into play as well. This is a devastating event I just hope that many others were just as lucky.
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cygstarz
Dec 28, 2004, 4:58 AM
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I've not read this thread entirely but did note some folks expressing concern about friends in the stricken area. Sorry if this has already been posted but, if you fit that bill...
If you are looking for information on a U.S. citizen feared missing, contact the U.S. State Department at 888-407-4747, or, from overseas, at 317-472-2328.
My hopes and prayers to all of you with missing friends and loved-ones.
Cyg
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jt512
Dec 28, 2004, 7:06 AM
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In reply to: In reply to: In reply to: Does anyone know whether or not geological agencies posted any warning whatsoever from the time of the earthquake till the tsunamis started to hit? If not why? I heard on NPR this morning that no tsunami warnings were issued because in that part of the Pacific has not been equipped with buoys that sense tidal waves, which are used in other parts of the ocean. We actually had a tsunami warning here in SoCal -- maybe 8 years ago -- issued by National Tsunami Warning Center, which I'd never hear of before. They closed the beaches, but the forecasted tsunami never materialized. -Jay I think you must mean the Indian Ocean Jay.
Yep. Geography sucks.
-Jay
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gizmo
Dec 28, 2004, 8:10 AM
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From what I understand, there are no tsunami warnings (no seismic wave-tracking buoys) in place in the Indian Ocean becasue there has not been tsunami activity in nearly 500 years. Also, becasue the quake shook areas that are politically unstable, it may have taken longer to get the word out that something big was travelling the ocean.
My friends and I left Thailand on the 23rd and it is an eerie feeling to see the places we visited and climbed so devestated. My thoughts and prayers are with the kind people we met there (esp. in Ton Sai) and all props go out to those climbers who are there helping pick up the pieces. To those of you who have tickets/plans to go to Thailand: go! Don't cancel anything! If you can spend a little bit of time helping out and if you can bring any sort of relief supplies in, do so. If not, at least continue to support Thailand with your tourism dollars, which will be needed all the more now.
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darkhalf
Dec 28, 2004, 10:30 AM
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Seems like ton sai beach has been rather lucky, thnx god. at least some good news. Been there till 18th and was worrying if they`re all half way fine. received a mail on 27th from a mate who still was there stating the following:
"hey man everythings fine with everybody. lots of damage.the bars on the water front are all damaged.many people left today but many are staying.spent the day cleaning up the freedom bar will be open tonight.lots of people waiting for internet so will say bye for now. thanks for checking on us.everyone says hi."
Feels good to hear people stick together & help as much as they can instead of just leaving.... after all I wouldn`t have expected anything else from us climbers!
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happiegrrrl
Dec 28, 2004, 2:44 PM
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My friend checked in last night. He is okay.
Does anyone have information on funds that we can donate to for assistance? I know that UNICEF and the Red Cross are groups who will do a lot to help, and both wil no doubt be able to earmark our donations to go directly to help this catastrophe.
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b3a
Dec 28, 2004, 4:18 PM
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everything is fine there according to my friends who are in tongsai now. Infact, they met some climbers who got washed by the wave who are still climbing like usual. Pretty much everyone is trying get everything back to usual..
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hasbeen
Dec 28, 2004, 4:41 PM
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Anyone heard from the Phi Phi's?
As far as Thailand goes, a warning system wouldn't have done much since the quake at 8 and the wave hit Phuket at 8:30.
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angy
Dec 28, 2004, 5:24 PM
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here are two links on how to help/ donate:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/international/28aidbox.html
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/quake.aidsites/index.html
if you go to nytimes or cnn.com, they have a wonderful link on how to help!
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indigo_nite
Dec 28, 2004, 8:29 PM
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as the death counts keep rising, I'm in shock and disbelief at the extent of this catastrophe. I can't help but wonder with the level of technological advances we have in certain industries, what measures could have been taken to provide more warning; but I guess that's for a future day...
while I am sad for those impacted by the tsunamis and earthquake, I am relieved in part that the ton sai beaches in thailand were not too stricken in terms of fatalities. I remember lounging around watching American films with guest house staff and playing ping pong with laid-back local climbing guides. I hope the people who made my stay a comfortable one are ok.
I hope the rebuilding process goes as well as it can.
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fiend
Dec 28, 2004, 8:36 PM
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My girlfriend and I are flying into BKK on Jan 6th and I've heard rumours about delayed and cancelled flights.
Anyone who's traveling to the area in the next two weeks have any info on this?
My travel agent's computers are down right now and they can't get any updates.
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treddy
Dec 28, 2004, 9:45 PM
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Hi Everyone,
Me and my girlfriend have a flight leaving for bangkok tonight, and will be arriving in the Krabi airport on th early evening on the 30th. We plan to help out with whatever aid efforts are going on in the area. For anybody else planning to do the same, we'd love to get in touch. I can be reached via email (check my profile). I'll try to post updates here once we get settled in and keep people up to date a bit. We may climb still end up climbing if appropriate.
Wish us luck and any good advice would be appreciated,
Tim
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sogwap7
Dec 29, 2004, 10:37 PM
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Total casualties up over 80,000 right now per cnn.com
Cant believe it. Such massive destruction, how long did take does any one know? I read that from the time of the earthquake to the wave was roughly 2 hours but from when the wave hit to calm how long was that.
my prayers are with everyone over there. God can bring about a great victory in this.
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