So many bad things happening in so little time

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia, July 18 -- Six-foot tsunami waves triggered by an underwater earthquake swamped several resorts and village seafronts on the southern coast of Java island Monday, killing at least 262 people, officials reported. More than 160 were reported missing in the area, which apparently had no warning system. A wall of water crashed into this resort town, badly damaging modest hotels, restaurants and rows of beachfront homes. The waves left brick walls gaping and tore down thatched roofs. Evi Didi, 29, who works at the Annisa Hotel, recalled Tuesday sitting in its front yard with three friends preparing for an afternoon swim when the water approached. "When I spotted the water it was already huge. It was like a mountain of water, higher than the coconut tress. I ran to the second floor and went onto the roof," he said. From there, he continued, he saw the bodies of three boys floating on their backs. As surviving owners and employees returned Tuesday, they picked through heaps of wooden boards and palm fronds, smashed bicycles, shattered beer bottles, waterlogged clothes and capsized beds. Although this tsunami was far less vicious than one that Aceh in late 2004, the rolling water carried away cars, motorbikes and satellite dishes as much as a quarter mile from the beach. The magnitude 7.7. earthquake occurred about 3:15 p.m. Monday and was centered about 150 miles off the southern coast of Java, Indonesia's most populous island. It was followed within the hour by several aftershocks. Office workers in high-rise buildings as far away as Jakarta, the capital, located on Java's north coast, said they felt tremors. About 35,000 people were displaced, according to national Health Department's crisis center. Indonesians became acutely aware of the ocean's devastating power in December 2004 when the South Asia tsunami was triggered by a massive magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake off Sumatra island. It left more than 170,000 dead or missing in Aceh province and flattened much of the provincial capital. Around the Indian Ocean basin, a total of at least 235,000 people died as a result of the tsunami. Water crashed with devastating force into coastlines in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and East Africa. The Associated Press reported that Sumatra now has a tsunami alarm system to alert people to leave coastal areas, but Java's is not due to begin operation until 2007. So there was no organized warning to people along the approximately 110 miles of coastline when the waves struck on Monday. Witnesses in Pangandaran said that as the wave approached, people shouted "Tsunami! Tsunami!" and climbed trees or crowded into inland mosques. In some places, the water was reported to have traveled 900 feet inland. Power lines were washed out. Another witness to Monday's wave, Miswen, who lives 50 yards from the ocean in Pangandaran, told el-Shinta radio that he saw the seawater recede shortly after the earthquake. Within half an hour, he saw three huge swells racing toward the shore.

Source: The Washington Post Company, 2006.

Someone told me this is the work of God towards the people who burnt down churches in Jakarta. I dunno why this is happening but i think the world we now live in is a "bad" one in many ways. I just pray that there would be no more bombing, war, tsunamis and earthquakes in the near future. There is only so much we humans can take...the consequences of our own actions. Just my little message of peace...