February 14, 2005

An excellent primer to the cataclysmic events off the coast of Indonesia is Simon Winchester's 2003 history, "Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883." That day the volcanic island of Krakatoa simply vaporized in an explosion heard thousands of miles away.

Dr. Eric Udell is planning to provide the first medical help many tsunami victims will receive when he leaves Sunday for Sri Lanka.

North East Valley native Kristi Anderson, a businesswoman who made friends all over the globe from her world travels, died in the tsunami that slammed Sri Lanka and several other countries Sunday in Asia.

MEULABOH, Indonesia - In town after town, the scene was the same from the helicopter taking one of the first glimpses of Sumatra's ravaged coast: whole villages ripped apart, covered in mud and sea water. The only signs of life were a handful of desperate people scavenging a beach for food.

HONOLULU — Scientists acknowledge they overstated the threat of a Pacific tsunami after Saturday's Chile earthquake, but many defended their actions, saying they took the proper steps and learned the lessons of the 2004 Indonesian wave that killed thousands of people who didn't get enough warning.

LOS ANGELES -- Federal experts have now issued a tsunami advisory for possible dangerous currents in coastal areas of California and Oregon following a magnitude-8 earthquake in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa.

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga - A powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Friday in the Pacific Ocean, shaking an erupting underwater volcano off Tonga's main island and raising fears of increased lava and ash flows, officials said.

HONIARA, Solomon Islands - A bone-rattling undersea earthquake sparked a tsunami that sent 10-foot-high waves crashing into parts of the Solomon Islands on Monday, wiping out one village and killing at least 13 people. The death toll was expected to rise.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Two years after a devastating tsunami crashed into coastlines, villagers in hardest-hit Indonesia were preparing for future disasters, with thousands expected to flee their homes by foot and car in an early warning drill.

TAIPEI, Taiwan - A powerful quake struck off southwestern Taiwan on Tuesday, triggering a potentially destructive tsunami that was headed toward the Philippines on the second anniversary of the deadly waves that killed thousands in south Asia.

CIAMIS, Indonesia - An earthquake sent a tsunami crashing into beach resorts on Java island Monday, killing at least 86 people, leaving scores missing and sending thousands fleeing in an area spared by the devastating Asian tsunami of 2004, officials, witnesses and media reports said.