Monday, March 28, 2005

More tragedy for Indonesian nations

All news outlets are now reporting an 8.2 earthquake in the Indian Ocean... again.

(CNN) -- Officials in Thailand and Sri Lanka report that residents are evacuating coastal regions in the Indian Ocean after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of at least 8.2 struck off the coast of Indonesia Monday.

In Thailand, thousands of people in the six provinces affected by the December 26 tsunami were moving to higher ground or 2 km (1.25 miles) inland, the governor of Phang Nga province said.

Sri Lanka also issued a warning that the earthquake may spawn a tsunami that would reach Sri Lanka's shores by about 3 a.m. Tuesday (4 p.m. ET Monday) and urged those living in low lying areas to move to higher ground.

Good Lord. This is the last thing that a devastated region needs. Stay tuned for tsumani updates and I'm sure more donation points will crop up shortly.

And keep these people in your prayers.

UPDATE 1: SayAnything and Michelle Malkin say lefty bloggers are blaming Dubya for the tsunami. Do they really think Karl Rove (et al) is the real Dr. Evil?

UPDATE 2: CNN is now reporting 50 deaths and has upgraded the quake to 8.7 and "small" tsunamis have been reported.

UPDATE 3: MSNBC had downgraded the number of deaths from the earthquake to between 400-500. The lack of a tsunami tsunami here saved hudreds of thousands of lives.