no mood to party
Safely got back to Singapore yesterday night.
Made a change in plans from going to Penang to staying back in KL then to malacca and JB in view of the tsunami incident in Penang.
If we had been in penang a day earlier, i guess we would have witness events ever more shocked and heartbroken in 20 plus years of our life. Destructions of homes, loss of lives, panic and chaos of the locals and tourist in Penang.
We arrived at KL early in the morning and had planed to journey to Penang later the evening until SW received a sms from his friend,
"Hey you guys still going to Penang? 1000s of people are evacuating from there"
Initially we thought it was a prang from his friend until we bought a local newspaper and saw the news ourselves. The tsunami has struck the coastal areas of Penang and people staying at the coastal areas were ordered to evacuate to the mainland in view that there might be another tsunami due to aftershock of the earthquarke.
We did not really feel the danger nor the chaos from the papers, but to play safe we decided not to make unnecessary risk and not go with our plans. It was not until when we saw the tv news that we felt the shock and severity of the tsunami that had reached many parts of Asia. Real life images of the Phuket shores that were flooded by the metres high waves made me feel how bad the situation could have been if we were at Penang a day before.
The following days, we kept in touch with news of the tsunami disaster of various areas through the local papers. Death tolls climbed as the news of the tsunami changed from shock to sadness as more families were broken and more people missing. Malaysia was the least hit areas as compared to Thailand and Indonesia with Penang having the highest death toll of around 60 plus people and many missing. Figures are still rising ( i guess ) at this moment while i am typing this blog.
Life could really be vulnerable and we could really be very close to death sometimes. Just imagine going to the Maldives or Phuket to enjoy the festive season. Resting the night in the hotel and then came the tsunami waves. We could have been drown in the our dreams. Close friends partying next to you a few hours ago could be just swept away by the waves.
Joyfully plans for the holidays could just turn out to have disastrous endings.
I felt touch after reading the caption of a picture from The New Straits Times in Malaysia. The picture showed a innocent, young, cute Singapore boy sitting in a hospital bed. From the expression on the child's face, i could feel that he was still unsured of what had happened. The caption was something like this: "Singaporean boy in Phuket whose father left him in the hospital and went back to the disaster area to find his wife who was still missing." Maybe because i was in Malaysia reading about the disaster of a Singapore family that i felt touched. Hopefully the wife can be found and the family could be safe and together again.
Singapore is nicely sheltered by our neighbours and we did not feel the shock of the earthquarke that had caused the tsunamis. Being such a small island, i guess if any tsunami did hit us, all our hdb's would have been flooded. Our mrts would have drowned, trees would be uprooted, no more a garden city. Where could we go and hide or take cover? Maybe we could climb to the top of the hdb and hope that the water level does not rise that high and hope that the building does not collapse due to the impact of the waves.
Being so close to the disaster area, i feel that we should not be ignorant about it. We should not take life as granted as it may seem for us even though we may not be affected directly. From the news that everyone is trying to help those in the disaster area, i feel that we are not small, everyone can make a difference. Every effort that we take to help those in need would definitely reach them one way or another.
Its the end of the year. Life goes on tomorrow at the start of a new year. Guess its time not to take things for granted and feel that we are not small. Any efforts no matter how big or small, we can definitely make life with a difference.
Made a change in plans from going to Penang to staying back in KL then to malacca and JB in view of the tsunami incident in Penang.
If we had been in penang a day earlier, i guess we would have witness events ever more shocked and heartbroken in 20 plus years of our life. Destructions of homes, loss of lives, panic and chaos of the locals and tourist in Penang.
We arrived at KL early in the morning and had planed to journey to Penang later the evening until SW received a sms from his friend,
"Hey you guys still going to Penang? 1000s of people are evacuating from there"
Initially we thought it was a prang from his friend until we bought a local newspaper and saw the news ourselves. The tsunami has struck the coastal areas of Penang and people staying at the coastal areas were ordered to evacuate to the mainland in view that there might be another tsunami due to aftershock of the earthquarke.
We did not really feel the danger nor the chaos from the papers, but to play safe we decided not to make unnecessary risk and not go with our plans. It was not until when we saw the tv news that we felt the shock and severity of the tsunami that had reached many parts of Asia. Real life images of the Phuket shores that were flooded by the metres high waves made me feel how bad the situation could have been if we were at Penang a day before.
The following days, we kept in touch with news of the tsunami disaster of various areas through the local papers. Death tolls climbed as the news of the tsunami changed from shock to sadness as more families were broken and more people missing. Malaysia was the least hit areas as compared to Thailand and Indonesia with Penang having the highest death toll of around 60 plus people and many missing. Figures are still rising ( i guess ) at this moment while i am typing this blog.
Life could really be vulnerable and we could really be very close to death sometimes. Just imagine going to the Maldives or Phuket to enjoy the festive season. Resting the night in the hotel and then came the tsunami waves. We could have been drown in the our dreams. Close friends partying next to you a few hours ago could be just swept away by the waves.
Joyfully plans for the holidays could just turn out to have disastrous endings.
I felt touch after reading the caption of a picture from The New Straits Times in Malaysia. The picture showed a innocent, young, cute Singapore boy sitting in a hospital bed. From the expression on the child's face, i could feel that he was still unsured of what had happened. The caption was something like this: "Singaporean boy in Phuket whose father left him in the hospital and went back to the disaster area to find his wife who was still missing." Maybe because i was in Malaysia reading about the disaster of a Singapore family that i felt touched. Hopefully the wife can be found and the family could be safe and together again.
Singapore is nicely sheltered by our neighbours and we did not feel the shock of the earthquarke that had caused the tsunamis. Being such a small island, i guess if any tsunami did hit us, all our hdb's would have been flooded. Our mrts would have drowned, trees would be uprooted, no more a garden city. Where could we go and hide or take cover? Maybe we could climb to the top of the hdb and hope that the water level does not rise that high and hope that the building does not collapse due to the impact of the waves.
Being so close to the disaster area, i feel that we should not be ignorant about it. We should not take life as granted as it may seem for us even though we may not be affected directly. From the news that everyone is trying to help those in the disaster area, i feel that we are not small, everyone can make a difference. Every effort that we take to help those in need would definitely reach them one way or another.
Its the end of the year. Life goes on tomorrow at the start of a new year. Guess its time not to take things for granted and feel that we are not small. Any efforts no matter how big or small, we can definitely make life with a difference.
