"The wave broke out to sea, but 1.5M or so of white water hit the beach. There was enough power in the wave to push water half way over the peninsular. The wave was filled with debrie from boats to trees, and a huge amount of mud and sand. The place is a mess. That said Railay seems to have got off relatively lightly."

"10 boatmen from Railay died"

http://www.railay.com/railay/intro/intro.shtml

Jimbo, I love your blog dearly, but I have to say...

shouldn't you be more worried about the 50,000+ people killed than about the beach?

For real, Jim. This is just a testament to your self-centeredness. Thousands and thousands of people have perished! Died, gone forever. It's so tragic I cannot fathom it.

but he KNOWS the beach

jesus effing christ people.

i am referring to the community of railay. not the goddam sand.

the people. the tourists. the boatmen. the hundreds of climbers from around the world who would be there right now during the high season. the bungalows and restaurants and guides. railay is a tiny peninsula community set between two beaches separated by palm trees. i was affraid the wave would have washed everything and everyone away. i have been calling friends and looking for news (thank you dawn for that link - i am greatly relieved).

i can't even begin to imagine the devastation, but if you know me and have read this site, you know that i have traveled around the indian ocean. two of my favorite places have been hit, tanzania and thailand. i am only months away from returning to the area for a third time. my heart goes out to all those communities hard hit, but don't attack me because my first reaction is toward to people and places i already know and love.

never in three years i have been writing this blog have i been so fucking offended at my commenters.

my gut response to both of you is "go fuck yourselves," and i am desperately tryiing to find the patience not to block your IPs right now. i accept that my post was short and perhaps easily misunderstood, but your attack was reactionary and deeply offensive. instead of questioning my intent direclty, you continue to make assumptions.

i'm really trying to be big about this, to put myself in your shoes, in an effort to understand your response.

no.

i changed my mind. i'm offended and angry.

both of you.

go fuck yourselves.

that post was short and easily misunderstood. I apologize if I misunderstood your intent.

Those of us who are regular readers understood what you meant, Jimbo - never fear.

My first thoughts were (quite naturally) of Phuket because that's where my divemaster friends live and work.

Glad to hear that Railay made it through relatively unscathed.

Devastation.

Guys, there's a great list which has a good number of aid societies that you can donate to, to help those that did survive.

I've linked to it off of my site, but you can also find it here.

Hrm. Okay, Jimbo has also removed html links, so I'll add the link here:

http://www.web-goddess.net/peechie/005882.html

Sorry, Jim. Some folks obviously don't understand your situation, experiences. You've been there, know that. And anyone who reads you regularly knows you're sensitive to this. Good luck on your upcoming adventure and may it be free of troubles. (The other Lynne)

Jim, your regular, longtime readers (even the slightly newer ones like myself) understood what you meant and took it correctly.

that's right, jimbo. we know that the massive loss of life is nothing compared to devastation of such a lovely vacation spot to you. we don't really care either - we just wish there was more video footage. i honestly thought the tsunami was make believe... like dinosaurs, santa claus, and calculus. guess not. oh well.

tmj--they were showing Railay on CNN last night...thought of you and hoped you got to see it. my thoughts are with you and those you may know there.
And Daniella? I'm not trying to start a war here with you, but I don't think there's a question as to "if" you misunderstood. If you think you're in the right, don't apologize. Backhanded apologies like that just sting.

oh puh-leeze. I misunderstood his intent.

Some of the time his blog is serious and sensitive and sometimes it's self-centered and shallow. Whatever. All blogs are like that. Including mine.

Did I call him an asshole? Did I do anything of the sort? I thought he was talking about the BEACH (as in a vacation destination), not the community. I was wrong, so I'm sorry. What exactly is backhanded about that?

apology accepted daniella. no worries.

Since Daniella apologized, I'm now wondering when Jim is going to apologize to her for telling her to go fuck herself. Much stronger language toward her than she used toward you. God, I'm so annoyed at how you lash out at commenters without first looking at yourself. Good luck in your travels.

I tend to agree with Beth, Jimbo...you did sort of blow your stack at a relatively harmless comment. Could it be that there was a sliver of guilt buried deep within your "go fuck yourselves" response? Just wondering....your only comment was that you feared the beach was destroyed. Your later post about the people, the tourists, the boatmen, etc. was certainly more specific, but the original post was rather cold and distant. I actually had the same reaction: "geeze...what about all the dead people floating in the water?"
Side note: I read today that officials are amazed at the absence of sizable amounts of animals that perished--some are speculating that they sensed what was coming and headed for high ground prior to the waves hitting. Pretty interesting...

I hear what you are saying, and beth brings up a good point. i did overreact to daniella. and i apologize. i was just angry, and overreacted.

in my defense, i have only become angry with commenters a few times, and this is one. I took offence because I wrote a post about my concern for a community, and I was accused of being insensitive. if i wrote that newport beach was destroyed, would you assume i was talking about the sandbars? subsequently, although i reacted inappropriately, the comment(s) still pissed me off.

the ability to comment doesn't give anyone a right to be an asshole. and when someone is an asshole around here, i will call them out on it. you will find lots of people who challenge me, and I won't berate them for challenging me. like beth.

beth called me out for being an asshole. she was right.

I love it. One sure sign of a man (or woman)'s integrity is when they can say "my bad, I overreacted and I apologize." Too many damn people in this world are incapable of taking that simple step during a confrontation or disagreement. I find that apologizing and/or admitting I was wrong is actually uplifting--shows that I'm human and actually care about others. I wish I could come to your party.

One of the effects of the tsunami has been to focus Westerners' minds on the desperate facts of life for most of the world's people, because for once some of "our" people have been included in the tragedy. E.g. when Jimbo mentions the tourists and "the hundreds of climbers from around the world who would be there right now during the high season."

I saw the statement, so I figured I'd read the comments, and my initial assumption was right: jimbo didn't whine about a vacation spot. I figure the emotion expressed was genuine.

I got here through a friend's site, sm1else on livejournal. Figure that's as good a reference as a man needs.

If those of you who are suggesting it some sort of Westerner vs. native focus on this tragedy, you need to stop reading American press. The media in those "western" nations most affected are better focused on the impact on both individuals affected, and the countries it has occurred in. I spent a large part of today reading notices of people who ares till missing, and even those weren't even 1% of all of them. I have so far recognized one name, someone I likely went to high school with.

Bickering about what he did or did not intend to say is beside the point. The graveness of it all automatically rules out any self-centeredness. I'm amazed that 'the regulars' could misinterpret what was meant. Reading should be more than the registration of words.
My sister has a colleague there she has worked with for many years. He died.