December 26, 2004

It was Boxing Day, the day after Christmas and it was supposed to be one of the most joyous days in the year. Personally that particular date was etched long ago into my memory because it once marked an important period of my life. But then the killer earthquake and tsunamis came on that very morning, tens of thousands of peoples' lives were extinguished in that very moment, and millions of others' lives were totally wrecked from it.

Calvin first informed me of the incident in the afternoon when I saw him online. From the moment there was a sign that something major had gone wrong, I went to search for some information regarding the event and right after I saw the first death toll, with each passing hour, the casualties continued to rise and rise and rise and rise into unimaginable figures. I was totally numb from the unrealness of the situation until I switched off the computer last night. A copy of The Star was beside me and as I looked into the devastation in the photos, it was only then that the reality started to sink it. And now, I couldn't bring myself to read the updated articles at Wikipedia, BBC and MSNBC, knowing that everytime I read through it I felt number than ever at the situation. I've given up reading it.

It was hard too typing this post out, my mind is in a confused and undescrible state, on accepting the extense of the calamity that had befell on the coastal residents. I felt terribly sad for the victims of the tragedy, lives that once housed emotions, thoughts, hopes, dreams and desire were wiped out in the glimpse of an eye. But the closeness of the disaster wasn't really enough to snap me out of it, I mean, I could not truely comprehend the sadness, agony and hopelessness of the family of the victims. I sort of felt it before, but this was not the same as I've experienced.

The numbers were numbing, but the photos from the disaster site were exactly opposite. The numbing numbers, both in terms of human life, monetary cost and relief aid were now mere statistics but the barrage of photos available everywhere evoked the most emotion and probably response from the people who were looking at it. It's true that there still are things which couldn't be able to be described by people, but sometimes a single image is enough to convey the message to everyone who saw it.

I think I've blabbered enough already. I don't even know what I'm saying now.