NEWSLETTER

Thanks a lot
to all of you who have contacted us expressing your concerns for us and our friends at Ombak Indah Losmen in south Sumatra and Batu Besar Losmen in West Java. Your messages have been greatly appreciated. After 2 days of uncertainty, we finally found that, fortunately, all our friends are fine as the tsunamis & tidal surges did not seem to make it further south than the Mentawais. Nev, after making contact with the Ombak Indah losmen on the morning of the 28th December, couldn't work out why they were so happy to hear from him. As usual, they had not yet heard of the disaster and were just glad to hear from him anyway. News still travels slowly there.

Reports from John McGroder of the Barrenjoey (Mentawai charter)
said everyone in Padang is fine - they just noticed weird tide movements during the day. Initial reports from Will about the camp on Simeulue are positive, with low loss of life, although full details are yet to be confirmed. It appears that they experienced flood damage only as a result of a tidal surge, rather than a wave. The runway on the island is reported to be damaged from the quake and he was flown in by Channel 9 a couple of days ago. Should hear more from him soon. Have not yet heard from Moose Matthew, but I know he's in New Zealand somewhere.

Our good friend Jim Craig from Alaska
sent us the following link showing the path of the waves, as well as before and after satellite images of affected areas, some of which have been printed in the newspapers. You can see from this how it seems possible that the islands south-east of the centre (Simeulue, Banyaks, Nias, Mentawais etc) missed the full brunt of the waves.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/eye/andaman-ani.htm

Lots of people have been asking how they can help
and where is the best place to donate money. We gave money to Red Cross, but we understand that any of the following organisations would be equally suitable (thanks Jules for the links):

Save the Children
World Vision
UNICEF
Oxfam
Red Cross

The following link gives info on how you can provide more direct assistance: http://www.australianvolunteers.com/home/tsunami/help

I had my first surf for 2005 yesterday,
nice 2-4ft groundswell at Maroubra. Couldn't help thinking each time a set rolled in about what it might have been like for all those people who were in the path of those out-of-place, monster waves, and how insignificant we are in the big scheme of things. Very sobering..... Anyway, we will keep you posted as more news filters through. In the mean time all we can do is dig as deep as we can for aid money.

Selemat tahun baru!

Stu & Nev