Safe but saddened
My sister Lani and I were sitting in a seaside restaurant on the southwestern coast of India in a historic town called Fort Kochin. As I spread my soft boiled eggs over my toast and drank my chai, we looked over at the water.
"Hey, Rafi," she said. "The water's moving really quickly, isn't it?"
It was true, there was no doubt that the water was moving more quickly than usual, and seemed unusually high too. Our service at breakfast that Sunday morning was nonexistent as all of the waiters in the empty restaurant were looking at the water in a startled sort of way. There was nothing frightening happening. No waves, no flooding. Just the water, rushing by. It almost seemed like it was running from something, with large bunches of seaweed speeding on in its midst.
Later in the day, as we were touring around some of Kochin's quiet streets and historic sites, we were informed by the proprietor of the store we were in that there was an earthquake that morning in the Indian ocean. "But no problem!", he said. "Middle of ocean! No one hurt!", he added a smile.
We heard other local reports after that. The famous Chinese fishing nets of Kochin, which when raised hang a good five or six feet above the water, had small waves rushing over them. Boardwalks and docks got a needed washing. It all seemed so innocuous. It was easy to marvel at the crowds of locals gathered standing on the docks, watching the quick waters and the choppy waves.
It started to seem more serious when the harbor became filled with massive ships that were seeking shelter from the turbulent seas.
Later on that day we started to hear the numbers, a phenomenon that from that point on brought the whole situation out of a local lens and put it into terrifying international focus. 1,000 in India. 1,500 Sri Lanka. Etcetera. At first we were saddened at what we thought was a minor natural disaster, and part of me even just marveled at the idea of a tsunami. Any sense of wonder and awe that existed on that first day in Kochin has been quickly dissipated and replaced with horror.
At first I didn't see anything. It was just those numbers. The first night the total was at 3,000. Then 8,000. 13,000. 25. 55. At one hundred and twenty thousand yesterday I began to fail to comprehend the magnitude of the disaster, and my heart has been aching at the loss of these people that I've never met. I started to allow myself more exposure to the news, seeing the pictures and the destruction, hearing more numbers, constant numbers, watching computer simulations of the event that begin at the earthquake epicenter and show quarter inch curved lines move across hundreds and thousands of miles taking on different colors as they hit land.
I feel lucky that I and everyone I know here in India are safe and healthy, and that even though I was travelling much farther south than my usual routine in Bombay I found myself unharmed. I hope that this can be taken by everyone in the world as an opportunity to give help to a region that will be recovering from this for decades. If anyone reading this doesn't know how or where to give, my organization, American Jewish World Service, is providing relief and is accepting and funneling aid to where it's needed. I send my love to all my family and friends out there, and am wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year.
"Hey, Rafi," she said. "The water's moving really quickly, isn't it?"
It was true, there was no doubt that the water was moving more quickly than usual, and seemed unusually high too. Our service at breakfast that Sunday morning was nonexistent as all of the waiters in the empty restaurant were looking at the water in a startled sort of way. There was nothing frightening happening. No waves, no flooding. Just the water, rushing by. It almost seemed like it was running from something, with large bunches of seaweed speeding on in its midst.
Later in the day, as we were touring around some of Kochin's quiet streets and historic sites, we were informed by the proprietor of the store we were in that there was an earthquake that morning in the Indian ocean. "But no problem!", he said. "Middle of ocean! No one hurt!", he added a smile.
We heard other local reports after that. The famous Chinese fishing nets of Kochin, which when raised hang a good five or six feet above the water, had small waves rushing over them. Boardwalks and docks got a needed washing. It all seemed so innocuous. It was easy to marvel at the crowds of locals gathered standing on the docks, watching the quick waters and the choppy waves.
It started to seem more serious when the harbor became filled with massive ships that were seeking shelter from the turbulent seas.
Later on that day we started to hear the numbers, a phenomenon that from that point on brought the whole situation out of a local lens and put it into terrifying international focus. 1,000 in India. 1,500 Sri Lanka. Etcetera. At first we were saddened at what we thought was a minor natural disaster, and part of me even just marveled at the idea of a tsunami. Any sense of wonder and awe that existed on that first day in Kochin has been quickly dissipated and replaced with horror.
At first I didn't see anything. It was just those numbers. The first night the total was at 3,000. Then 8,000. 13,000. 25. 55. At one hundred and twenty thousand yesterday I began to fail to comprehend the magnitude of the disaster, and my heart has been aching at the loss of these people that I've never met. I started to allow myself more exposure to the news, seeing the pictures and the destruction, hearing more numbers, constant numbers, watching computer simulations of the event that begin at the earthquake epicenter and show quarter inch curved lines move across hundreds and thousands of miles taking on different colors as they hit land.
I feel lucky that I and everyone I know here in India are safe and healthy, and that even though I was travelling much farther south than my usual routine in Bombay I found myself unharmed. I hope that this can be taken by everyone in the world as an opportunity to give help to a region that will be recovering from this for decades. If anyone reading this doesn't know how or where to give, my organization, American Jewish World Service, is providing relief and is accepting and funneling aid to where it's needed. I send my love to all my family and friends out there, and am wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year.
posted by Rafi at 5:00 PM
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