What Surviving the Tsunami was Really Like
"Evelyn Rodriguez offers us an amazing post about her experiences surviving the tsunami on a Thai island. Particularly important are her reminders to those thinking about communications in the wake of the tragedy:
'No, the Internet is not everywhere. No, television is not everywhere. In fact, electricity is not everywhere - many of the islands we were on prior to the tsunami were generator-dependent after sundown (and that's mainly for the foreigner's benefit). ... When you live in a simple bamboo hut and fish for a living, you are not living in the always-on broadband world folks in the industrialized West take for granted. ... The Thai man whose beach hut is destroyed walks by me. I'm laying flat on my back on the hiking trail with my leg on a log trying to stay calm and collected for my own sake and the kids on our tour (they are more terrified when the adults around them are). He tells me he is walking to Long Beach (or Hat Yao) to find out more and check up on his friends. It is a 20-minute hike away. This is how information was relayed in the first hours, and for some stranded, days.'
(I'm glad you're safe, Evelyn.)"
From WorldChanging
