The death toll from the devastating series of tsunamis that hit southeast Asian coastlines is rising steadily. The most recent number touted is 23,000.
The Star has a list of the dead in the northern region of Malaysia. It currently stands at 52 (excluding a victim from Selangor) but the number could rise since there are 22 people reported missing.
It’s hard watching the footage on the satellite news networks. So many heart-rending scenes from so many different countries. Women and children desperately trying to hold on to a building only to be swept away by the raging waters … men standing on the side of an upturned bus as water slowly but inexorably rises around their feet … bloated bodies lying on the ground unnaturally coloured with rigor mortis causing their hands to reach skywards as if asking for divine aid … a weeping man wipes away dirt from a dead woman’s face … a woman screaming at the dead child cradled in her arms as though trying to wake her up …
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