gutwrenching

The numbers of dead from the waves is officially at over 100,000 now but it may go much, much higher. Until now, the area where the earthquake actually occurred, the 9.0 earthquake, had not been in contact with the outside world. Fly-bys have now been done, and the devastation is beyond belief. In one town there was only one building left standing, in many villages there are absolutely no signs of life. In these areas, the government is fearing that enough people have perished to bring the death toll to 400,000...in Indonesia alone.

Furthermore, according to The Times of India:

Red Cross is estimating the toll could shoot up to 1,000,000 dead (from the present 80,000) in Asia once more information comes in from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Andamans are situated just north of Sumatra, the epicentre of Sunday's quake that set off the killer waves.

There is so much we just don't know about what has happened to so many people. There are reports from individual towns that have already buried (or burned) more than the official counts are at and know of hundreds, if not thousands, of bodies yet to be disposed.

5000 European tourists are still unaccounted for.

As for relief, the governments of the world (and especially the US) are still being rather stingy in their relief, but the people are doing their part. The Evening Standard is reporting that Britons are donating at a rate of one million pounds an hour. Amazon.com has collected over $7 million alone for the Red Cross and Americans have donated $18 million to the Red Cross in total. CARE is hoping for $10 million from the American public. If you, like me, have no cash available to donate, eBay has set up several ways to donate proceeds of your auctions to several organizations.

All that said, in a sign of human resiliance, people are already returning to the beach. I think it's kinda sick myself, at least while there's still so much to clean up all around them, but hey...you gotta have your vacation time, right? man....