Markie

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4125481.stm
Surging sea waters and tremors have struck a wide area around the Indian Ocean, killing more than 500 people in southern and eastern Asia.
High waves along the east coast of Sri Lanka have killed at least 400 people, local officials say.

Massive tides striking India's coast are said to have killed at least 100.

Deaths have also been reported in coastal Thailand and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, believed to be near the centre of the powerful earthquake

mcgahat

My wife, her family and I are in Phuket, Thailand as I speak. We where scheduled to leave this evening but HKT is closed and all they can say at this point is check every hour, they are currently waiting to see what happens with the next wave that is expecting to hit soon. We are at Karon Beach at the Hilton and it was not as badly hit as it seems Patong Beach was. I will say it is a very interesting thing to see first hand.

For our experience, we where having breakfast and me and my wife felt the earthquake although anyone standing such as the waiters did not really feel it. It went off and on for about 3 minutes or so just light movement of the ground. A couple of hours later while resting in the room we heard some yelling and running and looked outside to see what was going on. We saw flooding of the roads the beaches totally wiped away by the wave with all of the beach chairs etc floating in the ocean. We then saw a couple of people hurried away for medical care but do not know of anyone that is missing from the Karon Beach area but information is still pretty sketchy. We are getting more from internet than locally. We were able to get our rooms back and will just ride it out as it doesnt look like we will be leaving tonight as even if the airport opens back up soon the flights will be a mess, but those problems are minimal compared to those with missing friends and family so we are grateful really.

Football Fan

Horrible. A friend of mine is in Thailand with his family, I hope they are alright. Best wishes to everyone who is in the area.

Guy Betsy

I just spoke to my cousin in Penang, Malaysia. The earthquake was felt as far north as there at around 9am. By 1pm, the tidal wave hit all the coastal resort hotels.. with water levels going right up to the lobbies of some hotel. Even the E&O hotel in town was not spared from the Tsunami. About 15 people in Malaysia have died. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...124104/1/.html

See for latest update of casualties:

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3927601

TheProfessor

My uncle and his girlfriend are in Phuket, currently. Just talked to him - at least they are alright. But depredators stole everything they had - at least their passports and some money were stored in a safe. Let's see, when they can return to Germany ...

MNSWEEps

I am leaving for India ( Bombay ) in 1 hour but BOM is far from South Indian state of Tamil Nadu where the tsunami hit hard.

PW1P

Haven't had any luck getting thru on the phone to Southern Sri Lanka, all phone circuits busy or down.

Nothing to do but wait for news.

bertheike

We stay here in Patong Phuket.
Bad situation at all, many people died!
the first street ( beach road ) is completely spoiled away. Hotels like the Holiday Inn , Patong Merlin or Burasari ( and many more ) are damaged, that you cant use the first 2 floores.
boats,bikes,cars and even buses were spoiled away.
it started at about 8 am local time, when we feelt an earthquake.
about 2 h later the water at the beach went away !!! big ships grounded in the sand , you could see the fishes laying on the sand. the water went back a few hundert meters and then came the big wave and everyone stated running to save his live. the first wave was about 3-4 meter, 20 minutes later a second one more than 6 m high. and in the evening there hit a 3. wave the coast. We are lucky not to be in a beach hotel, we stay in an appartment up in a hill off soi nanai.
the airport is still closed. I recomend not to travel to Phuket now.

testero

bertheike, all the best for you in this horrible situation!

German carriers did shut down all connections to Phuket, Sri Lanka and Malvides now. They are evaluating situation and will check, wheater evacuation flights from some destinations are needed, TV news reported.

Aviatrix

Don't know if it's going to be of any use to you... but someone posted on the BBC web site saying that while phone calls are not getting through due to system overload, text messages to mobile phones are being delivered. This person was able to communicate with family members using text messaging.

I hope that your family/friends are safe.

PW1P

Apparently the UK is sending four empty planes to the Maldives, for evacuation purposes.

Thanks Aviatrix, unfortunately no cell phone number I know of for me to message to, my mother/family is staying on the East coast, seems that the west coast took the brunt of it.

mcgahat

Me and my wife did end up catching an alternate flight out of Phuket once the airport opened back up and we just arrived in BKK a little while ago. I was surprised to learn that at least 9 people had died in the area we where staying as I didnt think we got hit hard at all compared to the rest of Phuket island. I hate to think what the rest was like, really terrible. I will be interested to see how Maldives fared as anyone that has been on any of the islands there knows how low they are and not really very big.

skibum_nj

The latest reports have the death toll approaching 10,000 people, with many more expected. Unbelievable tragedy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6754820/

Football Fan

Glad you are safe, bertheike!

mosburger

For anyone affected by this tragedy regarding Phuket, a local English language publication, The Phuket Gazette has continuous coverage of events on their website. They also published phone numbers to several Asian, European and the US Embassy in Thailand that can be used for enquiries.

Their website: http://www.phuketgazette.com

Copy paste from their article regarding emergency numbers:

"People concerned for the welfare of friends and relatives believed to be on or near the coast when the wave hit can call the emergency rescue center at Tel: 076-214492 or 01-6432755. For calls from outside Thailand, the numbers are Tel: 66 76-214492 or Tel: 66 1 643 2755.

Local police stations may also be able to help. They can be reached by dialling 191 and asking for the district police station for the area concerned.

If calling from outside Thailand, the number for Phuket Provincial Police Headquarters is Tel: 66 76-212046. Phuket Tourist Police may be reached at Tel: 66 76-355015, if dialing from outside the Kingdom.

Readers may find the list of telephone numbers for some of the embassies in Bangkok useful. The numbers are, to the best of the Gazette’s knowledge, up-to-date. Expect to hear a recorded message giving another number for the emergency duty officer.

Australia 66(0) 2 287 2680

Belgium 66 (0) 2 679 5454

Canada 66 (0) 2 636 0540

China 66 (0) 2 245 7032-3 or 2 245 7036

Denmark 66 (0) 2 213 2021-5 or 245 7036

Finland 66 (0) 2 256 9306-9

France 66 (06) 2 266 8250-6 or 2 266 0550-3

Germany 66 (0) 2 287 9000

Ireland 66 (0) 638 0303

Israel 66 (0) 2 260 4854-9

Italy 66 (0) 2 285 4090-3

Japan 66 (0) 2 252 6151-9

South Korea 66 (0) 2 247 7537

Netherlands 66 (0) 2 254 7701-5

New Zealand 66 (0) 2 254 2530

Norway 66 (0) 2 261 0230-5

Russia 66 (0) 2 234 9824

Singapore 66 (0) 2 286 1434

South Korea 66 (0) 2 247 7537

Spain 66 (0) 2 252 6112

Sweden 66 (0) 2 263 7211 or 2 263 7239

Switzerland 66 (0) 2 253 0156

Taiwan 66 (0) 2 670 0200-1

United Kingdom 66 (0) 2 3058333

USA 66 (0) 2 205 4000

Readers should note that Phuket has experienced many disruptions to both landline phone services and mobile phone networks throughout the day, and may experience difficulty in getting through."