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BBC reporter vacationing in Sri Lanka describes he and his 'partner' sleeping only 3 meters from the waves when the tidal wave struck. They were awaken by unusual sounds and yelling. They managed to run out the back, get carried inland, and hang on a tree for while. The tree is now gone. He describes the sudden quiet when flood waters stopped flowing.
His room was completely destroyed. Others had immediately assumed he was gone.
Last number I heard was between 22 to 23 thousand dead. But a number of 40,000 is not unreasonable. Massive areas in Sumatra have not yet been contacted.
The length of the quake is also unusal - about 1000 kilometers. Equivalent to a quake everywhere from LA to San Francisco.
Sometimes we must learn from experience. Its a fact of life - and death.
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