Leah Kadwell

Tsunami
Late last night after the kids went to bed and we were hitting the email for a quick check on Sunday evening, we read about the Tsunami that hit India on CNN.com. We chuckled, actually, that we had to read about it on the internet and not hear about it "first hand". We live in the middle of the country, quite far inland, so we were in absolutely no danger. Everyone we know is also safe, though we expect one family may have a bit of flooding as they live just off Marina Beach, one of the hardest hit areas of Southern India.

Full story: There was much devastation on the coast of Tamil Nadu (thousands dead), Andhra Pradesh (about 50 dead) and Kerala. People had absolutely no warning. The powerful waves came in three main bursts, about 2-3 hours apart. We can only imagine how terrified they must've been because they were not at all aware that there had been an undersea earthquake hundreds of miles away that would suddenly have a massive impact on their lives. Most of these people were desperately poor and illiterate.

Hardest hit was Tamil Nadu where mainly fishermen, slum dwellers and some tourists were swept out to sea. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, Hindu devotees were going for an early morning "worship" ritual dip in the sea and were carried away.

There is an Education Center run by some of our friends in Pondicherry which was one of the areas hit. However, team and school are fine. There was one of our friend's film/literature team in Chennai, but they left the area safely 12 hours before the tsunami hit.

So, we will be remembering those who lost loved ones and trust you will do the same. A quiet Sunday morning turned in to disaster. So unexpected; so devastating.