Content-Wire Editor Survives Tsunami
Phuket, Thailand - This morning, at about 8 am, I felt as if my bed was rocking.
I looked around the room, but I couldn't see anything unusual.
No obvious cause of rocking whatsoever (...)
I thought, it must be some strong wind hitting the house, so I looked outside but the leaves on the trees seemed rather still. Uhm, no wind
Definitely, I felt the earth move. 'Yeah! Love at last!"
I hoped for a second.
I wish.
Nothing of the sort.
The rocking settled after a minute or so, and finally I thought of the possibility of an earthquake.
But I find myself in an isolated two storey country house in the middle of nowhere, and there is no television.
Even if there was a television, I would not understand what it says, because I am in Thailand and this is all new to me
I immediately logged onto the net, and searched google headlines for 'earthquake' but nothing came up. Of course, it was just too early.
The news still need time to hit the headlines I guess.
I forgot about the whole thing, and had breakfast, and started doing the usual morning chores
Later in the morning my neighbour Nom knocked at the door saying ' the tsunami arrived!'
It looks like the quake exceeded 8. grade of Richter scale, and that the epicenter was Sumatra
Apparently scientists had been predicting the big wave for at least three years.
"On many occasions after the predictions the local people escaped to higher areas of Phuket, but nothing ever
happened" said Nom, a local teacher "and when they returned to their homes many had been robbed".
She says that a five meters wave hit the coast this morning, killing some people and dispersing some at sea.
The locals are now evacuating hotels and closing up their shops as they seem very scared. Apparently scientists say more shockwaves could be expected in the forthcoming hours, so everybody is going home
There has been little information online until the local newspaper Phuket Gazette has just published some info, at last, confirming what I heard.
Communication networks are down, so all our contacts cannot be reached via telephone for the moment
Everyone is advised to stay at home.
Other countries in the region have been hit, including Sri Lanka
I have four liters of water, three kilos of rice, and one papaya.
Oh yes, and my internet connection.
I am sure everything is going back to normal soon.
But it looks serious from what I hear. The wave hit all over Asia.
I guess the headline for today is going to read ' content editor survives tsunami'.
One headline I couldn't have thought I was going to write.
Paola Di Maio is a freelance writer and the editor of content-wire.com
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