[Fsf-friends] Can someone reach Ramanraj

[Ramanraj K]

  Anand Babu wrote:

>I just realized Ramanraj's house is near the beach. I tried
>calling him a couple of times and got no response. Can someone reach
>him and confirm us if he safe and needed any help?
>
AB, thanks.  We were lucky to survive the Tsunami that has wrecked 
severe damage along the coast, but gave the opportunity to again realise 
that nothing is more valuable than life, the rights and freedoms we 
could carry with us all the time.   

Many people, whole hamlets at many places, fishermen in particular, who 
live life on the beaches, have lost lives, their dear ones, and their 
homes.  Nature's fury is something we may have to sometimes accept and 
live with, but man made disasters are the most unacceptable ones.  All 
of us need to do serious introspection, and find ways to overcome such 
calamities.  The earthquake occured around 7 am on Sunday morning, and 
the Tsunami waves took nearly 2 hours to hit the shores here around 9 
am.  Ample time was available to issue warnings, but nothing of that 
kind happened.  Even after the Tsunami hit, at most places only 
confusion reigned, and worse, instead of moving away from the sea shore, 
many people rushed to the danger to take a closer look at the disaster. 
 Moving away from the shore was what most sites advised, and we shifted 
to a friend's place.  Life along the coastlines have drasticly changed 
in few minutes time.

Many of the constructions along the coast fell, causing casualies. It is 
probably not practical or possible to build structures that can 
withstand Tsunami waves 10ft high, and warning people about the danger 
is the most important thing that could save lives.  Sivasankar's mail to 
ilugc on this issue had a response from James Lick <jlick@drivel.com>

<quote>
>[Ilugc] OT: Automated Tsunami warning script/program ?]
>I have a script to pull data for Taiwan from the Central Weather Bureau
> web site: http://jameslick.com/twquake/
> 
> I also send out automated email warnings in English and Chinese of
> quakes here:
> http://www.tcp.com/mailman/listinfo/twquake-alert-en

</quote>

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<quote>

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*Thanks,
Ramanraj.
*