Political Quotes

“On the morning of December 26, one of the worst catastrophes the world has ever seen slammed the coast of Southeast Asia, South Asia, and eastern Africa. Deep in the Indian Ocean, an enormous earthquake, estimated at a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter Scale--possibly one of the most powerful earthquakes ever in history--caused a devastating tsunami which has now killed over 150,000 people, seriously injuring another half a million, and displacing as many as 5 million individuals from their demolished homes. Thousands of people were literally washed out to sea as the enormous wall of water, traveling at speeds of up to 500 miles per hour in the open ocean, struck the coasts of the Indian Ocean Rim. As those waves receded, they took with them whole towns and villages. They took with them families on holiday, fishermen at sea, and children who had gone down to the beach that morning to play. One only begins to comprehend the enormity of the tragedy as the individual stories emerge, as they have over the last several days, such as the father who helped his daughter climb on to the roof of their hotel and drowned in his act of heroism or the 13-year-old boy who held his grandmother afloat as long as he could before she succumbed to the waves. The tragedy continues for these already devastated people. Survivors now face the 'disaster after the disaster'--the risk of death from cholera, dysentery, malaria, typhoid, and diarrhea, all potentially on an epidemic scale.”