EARTHQUAKE AND TIDAL WAVES IN S.E.ASIA WHERE IS LOU33??

[KangaSantaMummy]

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE LOU33 IS?

IS SHE BY THE COAST?

THIALAND,

MALDIVES under water we loved them when we were there 3 years ago.

EARTHQUAKE AND VERY FAST TIDAL WAVES REALLY AWFUL

It hasn't been named in any news reports yet, GDG. If you look at Hula's map here Phuket is west, PhiPhi is in the middle and Ko Lanta is east, but the epicentre is SW of the map. PhiPhi has been flattened. It looks bad for that whole area.

Message withdrawn

Oh God, please let her be Ok..

BBC News . Map at the bottom showing Phuket and epicentre.

live video here

MI, any news about your family? Hope they're okay too

I live in Phuket (in the middle thank goodnes) - the weather is actually fine and sunny and has been all day - it was just the waves that came with the aftershocks.

THere is complete chaos around the coastline with centres being set up for all the tourists who have been evacuated from the hotels in case of more waves. 35 people have died here in Phuket with many hundreds injured, the hospitals and clinics are full and the school where I work is taking in 700 + for the night.

Whoever made the comment about "if its tourists they make a fuss but not if its locals" I'm sorry but that is so insensitive. THis thing is huge - 10 m waves here this morning, cars in the sea, children swept away. Even if it is only locals its still a tragedy. Sorry don't mean to snap but I have lots of Thai friends and a Thai husband so don't like the connotations.

I have two friends missing on Phi Phi - when I say missing I mean we can;t contacy them at all. Mobile lines here in Phuket are still working as are landlines, but they are completley jammed and so it is virtually impossible to get through......I just got through to my hubby after trying for 2+ hours.

I'm sitting here feeling shaky and keep looking up different news pages - only nothing changes because there are no communications really. Apparently there was a bit of warning because there were 2 or 3 small surges before the big one so if anybody knew what it meant they had a bit of time to get back from the sea. Very very anxious.

Fingers crossed that they are all ok then, but the infrastructure to the whole area may well be seriously damaged for a while so could well take a while to find out for sure

If you've got msn Janh, could you see if anyone on that site will talk to you on msn? It says they will here When ds and ex dh were in Ahmdebad during the riots and I couldn't get hold of them I managed to get some people in chatrooms to reassure me that the area they were in wasn't too bad.

sarahu, I'm sorry, this is so terrible. It's a tragedy no matter who is affected isn't it?

From local paper 5 minutes ago.....

Latest toll: 66 dead, 691 injured

PHUKET: Kawee Sukunthamath, Chief of the Phuket Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (ODPM), early this evening said that 66 people were confirmed dead by the tidal wave which ravaged Phuket?s coastline this morning. Of the dead, 20 were foreigners. Another 691 people were reported injured and 22 more missing.

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 emerg ency 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

sarahu, I'm glad you're OK. I think the person who said "if its tourists they make a fuss but not if its locals" was making a statement about the western media and I think she's right. Of course it's no less of a tragedy whether it's a local or a tourist, but it is true that the wesern news media will tend to talk about any westerners who were affected.

How sad this story is. I hope no-one involved with mumsnet is affected, but thinking of all those people that we don't know who are.

sarahu- hope you and your family are ok.

hope lou's ok too

Just been watching news24, it's awful isn't it? Makes me want to cry.

Sarahu I think everyone here think that this is an awful tragedy. It is actually horrific. Equally it is human nature to worry most about people we "know", Lou is somone most mumsnetters want desperately to be OK. We'd really like for everyone to be OK.
But it is sadly a fact that most news agencies will make more of a fuss about tourists than locals.... one of the reasons I don't buy a newspaper. That was the meaning of the comment I believe.
I hope you find your friends

MI, I hope you get hold of your parents too.

WWW, I just added it but they're offline - even if they had wireless comms they'd be down now I suppose.

Just waiting and hoping. sarahu, hope your friends are OK too.

DD1 has a friend out there atm but from her last email she is the other side of that long narrow bit, in the Gulf of Thailand, so is probably not affected, thank goodness.

Dh phoned his friends mum this morning and our mate is about 600 miles away from it, he felt a few termors but he is fine, thank god [phew emotion]

Message withdrawn

Just had a quick look to see if there were any other chat forums for anywhere near there but no luck so far. Will pop back here later.

Oh thanks, essbee, of course that's true - I wonder if there's any point sending an email?

Message withdrawn

Tried, but although msn let me add it hotmail says the address doesn't exist??????? So no good.

Thiis is from the BBC again:

That was from this page - eyewitness accounts from the entire area including Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka etc.