[extropy-chat] sri lanka tsunami

[Damien Broderick]

At 06:40 PM 12/26/2004 -0800, Spike wrote:

>Damien, are you not personal friends with ACC?  Please pray
>to him for me.  Rather, post to him saying he has many friends
>and admirers wanting assurances of his safety.

Well, we've corresponded, shared a stage, that sort of thing. However, a 
mutual friend passed along the following message.

Damien Broderick
========================

     Thank you for your concern about my safety in the
wake of Sunday's devastating tidal wave.

     I am enormously relieved that my family and
household have escaped the ravages of the sea that
suddenly invaded most parts of coastal Sri Lanka,
leaving a trail of destruction.

     But many others were not so fortunate. For
hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans and an unknown
number of foreign tourists, the day after Christmas
turned out to be a living nightmare reminiscent of The
Day After Tomorrow.

     Among those affected are my staff based at our
diving station in Hikkaduwa and holiday bungalow in
Kahawa - both beachfront properties located in areas
worst hit. We still don't know the fully extent of
damage as both roads and phones have been damaged.
Early reports indicate that we have lost most of our
diving equipment and boats. Not all our staff members
are accounted for - yet.

     This is indeed a disaster of unprecedented
magnitude for Sri Lanka which lacks the resources and
capacity to cope with the aftermath. We are all trying
to contribute to the relief efforts. We shall keep you
informed as we learn more about what happened.

     Curiously enough, in my first book on Sri Lanka, I
had written about another tidal wave reaching the
Galle harbour (see Chapter 8 in The Reefs of
Taprobane, 1957). That happened in August 1883,
following the eruption of Krakatoa in roughly the same
part of the Indian Ocean.



     Arthur Clarke
     27 December 2004