The Boxing Day Tsunami tragedy
Dec. 31st, 2004 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kribbanOk. I should say something about the Tsunami disaster in South East Asia. It is now clear that the devastation at Thai resort Khao Lak is the worst accident ever to befall Sweden.
According to latest reports 3500 Swedish citizens are missing and most are presumed dead.
That's almost as many who died at the WTC. Put that number in relation with Sweden's population - 8 million.
The M/S Estonia accident, which until now was considered to be Sweden's biggest national trauma, killed 900 people. That's 1/4 as many Swedes as Khao Lak.
The Prime Minister has issued tomorrow to be a national mourning day. We will have a quiet but hopefully pleasant New Year's Eve, with food and champagne. The TV will air the traditional poetry recital at the stroke of midnight but they won't light fireworks. All music performances will be sombre.
(For those who are wondering I also had a nice Christmas, I got gift certificates and have started reading Harry Potter again. We've also been watching the ROTK EE. I was going to write more thoroughly about my holiday but it doesn't seem that relevant now.)
Yesterday and the day before I spent a lot of time at the office reading articles from Swedish news papers about tourists in Thailand and what have happened to them. Some people have had to leave with several family members missing. Some were forced, and some wanted to go home willingly. I don't understand that. But then again I've never been struck by tragedy either.
The story that touched me most was a family from Gotland where the father had found his dead wife and struggled to keep the body. He wanted to take her to Sweden but SOS International said no, so he had her cremated in Bangkok. He's now driving around with his brother searching for the dead bodies of his two little boys. "I will never stop looking," he said when the paper asked him whether he would like to go home to Sweden.
Finally, I'd also like to say that it bothers me a bit that so much of the western tourists who died are only one very small percentage of the total death toll. It bothers me a bit that the Thailand resorts are written so much about even though Sri Lanka and Indonesia is hard hit. Unlike the western tourists, many of these people are already poor and need a lot of help to re-build their lives.
I'm glad so many people have contributed. My company has donated 10.000 Euros and offered to double the donations made by the employees. The Swedish Red Cross have received 3.000.000 Euros already. (I and my parents and most of my co-workers have donated. I hope everyone who has a couple of Euros to spare will as well.)
According to latest reports 3500 Swedish citizens are missing and most are presumed dead.
That's almost as many who died at the WTC. Put that number in relation with Sweden's population - 8 million.
The M/S Estonia accident, which until now was considered to be Sweden's biggest national trauma, killed 900 people. That's 1/4 as many Swedes as Khao Lak.
The Prime Minister has issued tomorrow to be a national mourning day. We will have a quiet but hopefully pleasant New Year's Eve, with food and champagne. The TV will air the traditional poetry recital at the stroke of midnight but they won't light fireworks. All music performances will be sombre.
(For those who are wondering I also had a nice Christmas, I got gift certificates and have started reading Harry Potter again. We've also been watching the ROTK EE. I was going to write more thoroughly about my holiday but it doesn't seem that relevant now.)
Yesterday and the day before I spent a lot of time at the office reading articles from Swedish news papers about tourists in Thailand and what have happened to them. Some people have had to leave with several family members missing. Some were forced, and some wanted to go home willingly. I don't understand that. But then again I've never been struck by tragedy either.
The story that touched me most was a family from Gotland where the father had found his dead wife and struggled to keep the body. He wanted to take her to Sweden but SOS International said no, so he had her cremated in Bangkok. He's now driving around with his brother searching for the dead bodies of his two little boys. "I will never stop looking," he said when the paper asked him whether he would like to go home to Sweden.
Finally, I'd also like to say that it bothers me a bit that so much of the western tourists who died are only one very small percentage of the total death toll. It bothers me a bit that the Thailand resorts are written so much about even though Sri Lanka and Indonesia is hard hit. Unlike the western tourists, many of these people are already poor and need a lot of help to re-build their lives.
I'm glad so many people have contributed. My company has donated 10.000 Euros and offered to double the donations made by the employees. The Swedish Red Cross have received 3.000.000 Euros already. (I and my parents and most of my co-workers have donated. I hope everyone who has a couple of Euros to spare will as well.)
