since sunday

when i first heard about the quake off aceh, i thought it was just a small quake to teach those aceh people, who have been fighting for so long over nothing, a small lesson. imagine my shock that same evening as images of the castastrophic effects of the earthquake came filtering through the news networks.

i was stunned more than anything else. it was surreal suddenly having what i have always studied in geography class becoming reality. the underground earthquake has produced tsunami waves so widespread that they have affected almost all the countries whose coastlines hug the indian ocean.

but more than just shock at the images of a utterly flattened bandar aceh or the image of the waves bringing in dead divers off the coast of khao lak and phuket to shore or the images of once sprawling indian and sri lankan fishing villages now submerged under water or buried under mud, totally obliviated from the face of the earth; i now grapple and try to even have a sense of the extent of the human tragedy -- the numerous lost lives. you hear of the thai king losing his twenty-one year old grandson. and of the japanese family based in singapore who are still missing in phuket. sitting here in front of my laptop, it is totally inconceivable that while i am so near ground zero, i am all well and unaffected.

i remembered two of my ex-students who were told me they were going to be holidaying in thailand. i forgot which part. and i panicked for a moment. i established contact with one, but not yet with another.

it is really amazing how the world descends to offer aid and how quickly the amount of aid is being accumulated. but you get a feeling that it will take years to get over this tragedy of seismic proportion -- if they get over it that is.

but what hit me closer to the heart was the fact i was contemplating heading off for the beaches of penang or phuket for a short break before school starts. i ended up not going because i couldn't find friends to come along.

already i have a friend who is heading to sumatra to assist in a humanitarian mission. he is doing this despite school starting in over a week's time. and i am sure many more are.

as an inquiry continues in the aftermath, inefficiencies in government procedures will show up. i really hope that there would be enough political will to see through reforms and do things that matter to the devastated population. and maybe, to set up a warning system for the indian ocean in the mould of the tsunami warning system for the pacific ocean.

even as you sit behind your desk bidding for your modules for the new year or usher the new year wherever you may be, do say a silent prayer for the 100,000 dead or missing and the uncountable people who may have suffered a human loss in this whole episode.

happy new year.