THE BEGINNING

Around 1500 We were alerted by Mick Stevens, Australian Hon Con in Medan that there had been a terrible earthquake north of Sumatra and that a tidal wave had followed soon after. We had not felt the quake in the morning and had left for a wedding ceremony before the tidal surges started. Soon after Mick's call we called the water police in Muara who reported that the river was surging in and then out every 20-30 minutes and that they were helping our crew secure our boat with extra lines. It had rained all day and the river was running high. Friends in Padang started calling in very afraid and asking for more information. Television showed waves hitting Phuket and more and more reports started coming in. From the moment we turned our TV on the news just got worse every minute.

We checked the USGS website. Since the image below was published there have been 72 earthquakes in the region. Some 7.5 and many 6.5. No wonder the people are terrified.