BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Wolfgang
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 06:18 PM

Thanks for the correction, McGrath, you're right.

28 Dec 04 - 05:55 PM, "the German chancellor" has interrupted his vacation (at a completely different part of the world) if that is what you meant. But perhaps you meant to write "a former German chancellor" instead of "the German chancellor"?

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 05:55 PM

Odd isn't, how provincial our reactions truly are. I have a friend who is in India over her winter break for her first time outside the US. It is mind blowing to me to think what she must be going through as her first time as a foreigner in India under the circumstances.

She is in Bombay, so I'm not worried about her. But it will be fascinating to hear her stories of all this when she returns.

Crazy ole world. Why don't people understand the huge numbers of casualties has nothing to do with the third world thing, but with the fact that these were heavily populated coastal tourist areas at the height of the season, with the waves hitting at a time when many people, children and fishermen and tourist industry workers especially, were just beginning their day? If a 9.0 earthquake hit just off the southern California/Mexican coast during the height of the tourist season, with tsunamis equivalent to this one, the number of deaths would be incredibly high--likely in the tens of thousands too. The reason why the Alaska earthquake doesn't compare isn't because of the ferocity of the quake, but because of the thin population in the area, which is true of most earthquakes and tsunami.

I do hope this disaster results in an early warning system for the area. It is true that in certain areas, like the Banda Aceh area of Sumatra, or the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, that there never would have been much time for warning, as it all happened so fast, and there was no place for most of the victims to go. I read that on one of the islands, when authorities finally arrived they found only a third of the island's population had survived. That is just an unimaginable scale of death.

I was online early on the 26th, as the story came in, and I watched and read in horror as the stories come in from the gitgo, while the death toll rise by the thousands each hour. Now there is talk of 60,000, and a likely doubling of that number due to water borne diseases, lack of water, food, medical supplies, and shelter and shade (lest we forget, these are tropical regions, but due to development, very little natural shade from the sun.

But I note that the German chancellor and his party were promptly airlifted out.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 05:52 PM

I share Wolfgang's scepticism about the low casualty figures for Burma - but he's wrong about the Burmese coastline being further from the epicentre than Thailand's western coast is, as the map on this page shows.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: nutty
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 05:51 PM

There is excellent coverage on the BBC SITE

HERE

Subject: 60,000+ Tsunami deaths
From: Nemesis
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 05:24 PM

I also noticed (early yesterday) that between the Sky news bulletins the commercial for P&O cruises slogan: "It's a world out there" panning away to show ship in middle of ocean) seems to have been pulled.

Death toll approaching 60,000 ... terrible scenes on TV .. and so many children seem to have been victims because they couldn't run away fast enough, nor strong enough to survive in the torrential waters .. at one resort apparently, when the sea receded (a classic indication of an approaching tsunami) many children went down onto the beach to pick up the exposed shells.

It's been confirmed that Richard Attenborough's 14 year old granddaughter is among the British casualties - her mother is still missing.

It's the virtually the only news story here in UK..Again, what coverage is there on this disaster on US media?

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Wolfgang
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 04:59 PM

Some understandable censorship by German radio stations: A present hit titled (in translation) 'The perfect wave' is not been played anymore.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: GUEST,Mrr-at-work
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 04:23 PM

Georgiansilver, if you had any idea how insulting praying for these Hindus, animists and Moslems "in Jesus' name" is, you might rethink your incredible provinciality.
Then again, the several thousand Swedish tourists might appreciate it.
Wonder how many other northern countries sent boatloads of tourists there.... poor people...

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Ooh-Aah2
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 04:21 PM

I see this as yet more proof that there is no God - the neat little arguments reconciling perfect good with the existence of evil trail off into silence when one sees the piles of bodies, the screams of the bereaved, the desperate relatives searching.. the day after Christmas. I know from my travels that there are no people less deserving of such suffering than the gentle, kind fishers of Tamil Nadu, and I am sure that the victims in other countrie were just as 'good'.

All one can hope for is that 2005 will be better than stinking 2004 which has to be just about the most apalling year for the suffering of innocent people that I can remember.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Wolfgang
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 04:08 PM

Has anyone noticed the curious death toll reported from Burma (now Myanmar?)? Closer to the epicenter than Thailand with a longer exposed coastline it only reports 34 casualties. A military regime governs there. It reminds me of the death toll reports from behind the Iron Curtain before 1989. Somehow countries with no free press always seem to be exempt from natural and human made catastrophes.

The number of German deaths by the tsunami will be in the hundreds.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Rustic Rebel
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 12:11 PM

I just heard the quake has created a buldge in the plates between Asia and Australia which could create more intense and stronger quakes to come.
All of this isn't new though. It's been happening in the history of the life of our world.
It is a trip that those islands moved, but that too has happened throughout history.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Nemesis
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 09:04 AM

Just over an hour since first posting .. death toll now over 55,000

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Nemesis
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 08:47 AM

In 45 minutes the death toll has climbed to 45,000 ..

In UK, Sky is providing comprehensive news coverage .. ditto BBC
What coverage is this receiving in the USA?

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Nemesis
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 07:56 AM

In the past 10 minutes, the death toll has risen to over 40,000

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Nemesis
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 07:51 AM

39,000 lives now reported lost ...

Oxfam is one of the agencies already in many of the countries affected

Click here to donate: Oxfam South Asia Tsunami disaster

Others (Google?) are:
CAFOD - Catholic Aid agency
Christian Aid
Save the Children

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 01:14 AM

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/WA-feels-the-tsunamis-ripples/2004/12/28/1103996534617.html

WA feels the tsunami's ripples
December 28, 2004 - 1:24PM

Unusual tidal surges and strong currents hitting the coastline of
Western Australia, caused by the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, are set to continue for at least 24 hours, forecasters have warned.

Meteorologists said they did not know exactly how long the local effects of the undersea earthquake would last, but they were expecting the surges to last at least throughout today.

Perth Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Grant Elliott said the
bizarre consequences of the world's worst earthquake in 40 years were
hard to predict.

"We do expect the effects to continue, and we have had anecdotal
evidence of tides up to a metre higher than normal," Mr Elliott said.

"But because this is beyond our experience we don't know what ripples
might remain in the basin, so we just don't know who, what, where or why really."

The first waves arrived on the west coast on Sunday afternoon and
continued into yesterday.

Tidal surges were reported from Geraldton, 425 km north of Perth - where several boats in the port lost their moorings - to Busselton, 232 km south of Perth.

The southern half of the state felt the greatest effects, despite being further away from the epicentre of the quake, because it was more directly in line with it.

Two people had to be rescued after strong tidal surges swept them out to sea in Busselton, where surges of one metre every 30 to 60 minutes were reported.

AAP

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 12:50 AM

brucie
I believe the year was 1968.

Harpgirl, the 500mph speed is in the deep ocean. At shore it is no more than 50mph. The video I have seen from atop a 20 story hotel showing the 30 foot wave rush ashore over samller buildings a mere 100 yards was amazing.

...........................................

Now imagine a 5 km asteroid hitting the mid Atlantic.

The resulting wave would be about one mile tall in many shoreline locations.

My friends, that is the differnece between a catastrophe and a catacysm.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: harpgirl
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 12:29 AM

This is a natural event of devastating magnitude. I listened to this story on NPR tonight. I could imagine the gentle rolling of the waves out in the ocean and the five hundred mile an hour surge over the shallow coastlines. What a tragedy! The earth almost seems to be fighting humanity back....The ice shelves are calving at a rapid rate and the world is warming fast. The weather is much more violent it seems to me.....

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: GUEST,TIA
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 11:17 PM

Ease up on Mary Garvey. She is asking a perfectly reasonable question. It would, in fact, have been possible. F__k political leanings and previous thread disputes - it is theoretically possible that people could have been given better warning. Can we please admit that so that next ime it will be better?

And, for the record, no one has (or could) say that the USA is to blame. Nature's power makes the USA look puny in the extreme. This is a global, HUMAN catastrophe. Let's all be good humans in our response.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 11:16 PM

Mary, it sounds as if you live near Crab Harbor. That's awesome. WELL worth the risks!   I live on a sand spit, too, down south. I'll have to check in to those warning things (or get a television or radio perhaps -- nah.)

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Ebbie
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 09:54 PM

By the way, I mistyped - that should be 500 miles per hour that a tsunami can travel, not 150. I went back to fix it and somehow typed in the other number.

NBC just said on the news that the Atlantic Coast has no tsunami warning system. Brrrrrrr. These third world countries, you know.

Bill D, one of these times I hope you and Ferrara come here again. We would love to show you off to everybody. Incidentally I know just what overlook you took your photos from! There is now a tramway that runs up to the timber line. In the summertime, of course. Tourists, you know.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 09:41 PM

ebbie...I kinow the mountains you mean...I 1975 I climbed up the trail behind the town. I still have slides of the town from way up high.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Ebbie
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 08:45 PM

An acquaintance of mine in Juneau was in Kodiak Island during the 1964 Alaska earthquake with its subsequent tsunami. She said the wave came in six different times. She said the people had retreated to the hills above the shore and were able to see it all.

I read once that the reason you can't outrun a tsnunami is that the wave can be traveling 150 milers per hour. Even then, with a proper system in place there can be quite a bit of warning.

Years ago I lived on the Oregon coast. Whenever there was a seismic event that could have caused a tsunami the police traveled slowly through the neighborhoods with a peculiar sounding siren, which told us to head for higher ground.

Here in Juneau Alaska, with the ocean right at our doorstep we really have only one place to run, and that is up the mountains behind us. Our land mass is severely limited. On the other hand, the hundreds of small islands out there break up normal ocean waves so that we get no wave action at all. A tsunami might bring a upswelling of water but no wave as such. In 1964, several boats tied up at the docks overturned with the swelling but there was no damage otherwise. Very different from 600 air miles away.

Some funny stories came out of that quake. One young couple in Anchorage found themselves flung to the ground outside their cabin, where they rode the earth, sometimes looking up at their cabin, sometimes down on it as the earth shrieked and roared with tremendous noise. The woman started praying out loud. Her husband yelled into her ear: "Louder! Louder!"

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Mudlark
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 08:15 PM

Even with warning, the sheer improbability of what people along those shorelines were seeing kept them riveted to the spot when they could have been fleeing. Got an email from a friend visiting in Thailand who was eating a late breakfast overlooking the beach on a beautiful sunny day. The first wave emptied (!) the bay as it took form, then as in slow motion headed for the beach. Everyone sat mesmerized before this rare and beautiful event. There was no sense of fear, only awe and amazement. The 2nd wave was much larger than the first, came in much farther, crashing right into the restaurant, taking with it chairs and tables. Slowly it began to dawn on people that they were in danger and most began moving away from the shoreline. The 3rd wave came across the street and right into the hotels and bungalows. By then trucks were arriving to take people to the hills.

Gives the word "awesome" it's full meaning. Original archaic usage indicated dreadful, terrifying.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: mg
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 08:01 PM

Some people somewhere were able to run to higher ground. You take your chances getting into a car. Trust me, I live on a tsunami road and doubt I would make it out. But some would...I think near seacoasts we need to build some sturdy stone buildings, and high enough that they provide some protection..of course then they act as damns etc...mg

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 07:17 PM

Even with a fully functioning warning system to detect quaked and the resulting tsunami would there be enough time to evacuate people?

The Maldives and the Andamen Islands are isolated so getting people off on ships and getting those ships well away from the coastline would be difficult.

With regards densley populated regions like Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka just how many could be evacuated? Roads would become clogged ad nothing would move.

Yes a few more lives might be saved but the loss of life would still be unbearably high. We live a fragile existance on a fragile planet and nature is always ready to remind us of that.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: mg
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 06:55 PM

before a catastrophe hits your shores, check out coconut fluid as a replacement for blood plasma...they have used it in some armies like Indonesia I think....it is supposedly quite similar in composition and can be used for transfusions, should the need arise and coconuts be available (which they probably are in some of these areas affected by the tsunami). mg

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: GUEST,Diogenes
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 06:31 PM

"I figured it would only be a matter of time before someone like Mary Garvey blamed our government."

I figured it would only be a matter of time before Martin Gibson blamed the victims for not having sense enough to be American.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 06:02 PM

In Pacific countries, I gather from the press coverage, there is in place already a tsunami warning system, because of previous experience. This earthquake happened in the Indian Ocean, where there hasn't been anywhere like so much seismic activity in recent decades as round the Pacific rim.

If there was a similar major disaster like this in Western Europe or the United States, the same would apply, noone is expecting it (apart perhaps from the US West Coast) and noone is ready for it. There appears to have been a failure to have contingency plans in place from the Canary Isles disaster in waiting mentioned earlier. Perhaps this may change as a consequence of this tragedy.
.......................
About that insensitive headline I quoted - I can understand that people with tourist relatives in the area must have been very worried, but there are probably far larger number of people from immigrant backgrounds who have relatives who are resident in those countries, who must have been equally worried.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 05:57 PM

The Revenge of Gaia.

Tasmania had a level 8.8 or near abouts quake within last week near Macquarie Island - fortunately not many live there. Also North West coast of Aust got the Tsunami but very few live there so no damage.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: open mike
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 05:46 PM

try again for U.N.I.C.E.F.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: open mike
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 05:35 PM

where to go to offer assistance
(if you are not poart of the solution,
you are part of the problem)
Red Cross
when yuo go to the red cross site, you can find a video
of musicians doing a benefit for red cross...
that is something many of us could do...
what a good way to celebrate new years or first night...
i issue a challenge....how many such events can we mudcats
organize??!!
UNICEF

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Once Famous
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 03:59 PM

It's your fault Mary Garvey. I blame you for not yelling the news over to them.

Oregon? Mt. St. Helen compared to this Bill D.?

Allow me to show you that this is an apple and this is an orange and that there is quite a bit of difference.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: mg
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 03:53 PM

It is incompetence on all sides then. Are there no ham operators? Could they not have gotten in touch with Fox news or someone and said get hold of your people there? Put the word out? They should have flooded the airwaves and the internet. If we can't get hold of people, for example, in major tourist attractions, with all night hotels, etc.....we sure as hell had better figure out how to. mg

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Wolfgang
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 03:31 PM

Mary, what you complain to have been missed has actually been done. The USA had the information about a possible tsunami early and did inform the US embassies in several countries hit later. The embassies did try to phone local services responsible for giving warnings. But due to the holiday season, to the (locally) very early time of the day and to the inefficiency of the local institutions no warnings reached the people that could have profited from hearing them.

The blame here rests with the local authorities and with nobody else.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Peace
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 03:09 PM

Amen, brother.

I was in Edmonton when the tornados hit. I was in university at the time (1984?) and I went to the Red Cross building to see if I could help: give blood (O neg) or search for people or whatever. They figured that because I was studying education that I'd know something about organization, so they told me to organize their office which had about twenty phones in it.

We received hundreds and hundreds of calls from all over the world. People asking after loved ones and relatives. A lady from England called and wanted to know if her daughter in Toronto would be safe. I assured her she would be. Toronto is over 1500 miles from Edmonton. On a map it seems like the next town over. It had been reported by various news agencies around the world that Edmonton was a disaster--you'd a thought we'd been hit by 10 megaton nuke. But regardless, people were worried and we did what we could to take names and see if we could pass messages along or get people connected. I do not recall how many people died because of the tornados, but it was very few. I know it wasn't few to those who lost family or friends. A disaster of this magnitude--the tsunami--is incomprehensible to most people. It will be weeks before aid gets to where it's needed. That won't be for want of trying. It's just the nature of disasters.

The death toll will continue to rise, and the heartache will continue to increase. People who have been devastated will go into shock at destruction that has been wrought in their usually-secure world, and the efforts of humankind will do its best to save lives, feed and house people, give the comfort we can. That;s part of the responsibility we have as citizens of this planet.

BM

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 02:53 PM

Who cares what effect it had on the earths rotation? Let's just either pray or offer best wishes to those who are grieving and mourning the loss of loved ones in the tragedy.

Lord, I lift all those who have suffered in this tragedy to you and ask (as you said ASK) that you bring comfort to all those who have suffered in this tragedy. To the families of those who have perished and all their friends and relations. Help them to come to terms with it all and come to a greater understanding of the forces of good and evil.
I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: jaze
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 02:21 PM

Just what effect did it have on the earth's rotation?

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Megan L
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 02:15 PM

It is easy to make fun of headlines like the "few hundred tourists" If however you were waiting for news of a loved one in one of those places the headline was like a hammer blow.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Ebbie
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 02:14 PM

I believe that the death count from the 1964 Alaska earthquake and tsunami was over a hundred. Not to be compared with this tragedy but it still affected a lot of people.

I was in an Oregon restaurant that night and we all felt anxiety and sorrow for a visiting Alaskan who was glued to the television straining to hear what had happened to his home and family.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Metchosin
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 01:16 PM

brucie, while there was no loss of life in BC, people did die in Oregon and California as a result of the 1964 Tsunami, a number of whom, although warned, went down to the sea side to watch, if I recall correctly. Of course that was before Hollywood started making movies about such disasters.

Setting up a Tsunami monitoring system for the Indian Ocean is a very expensive undertaking, which would require the economic cooperation of a lot of extremely impoverished nations. However, true to human nature, it probably will be undertaken, now that the damage has been done.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: open mike
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 01:16 PM

http://www.usgs.gov/
this site has loads of info on geological stuff
earthquakes, etc.
i remember hearing a report on NPR that surfing
enthusiatsa have bee swarming to hawaii to a
memorial sirfiong contest--in memory of a
rescuer who died trying to save some folks
years back...that the waves were like high
rise bldgs coming at you...wonder if there is
an relation to the tsunami?

in 1998, i experienced on of the mose incredible
days of my life. I was on a clipper ship off the
coast of Guadeloupe--there to watch the total solar
eclipse. There is the Caribbean, in the path of
totality was also the volcano on MontSerrat, which
was erupting at the time, which caused seismic
reaction which resulted in massive waves . this
cause whales and porpoises to leap from the water..
what a multi media show....!! plus the total eclipse
was in progress, to add to the mix!

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: wysiwyg
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 01:16 PM

Headline (film at 11):

"Musicians Adopt Internal Strife Strategy to Resolve World's Problems"

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 01:10 PM

23000 now with 30000 missing in the Andaman Islands alone. The figures are unbelievable, and I think it may turn out to be the biggest disaster ever, casualty wise.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 01:04 PM

" third world countries,.."

umm...like Oregon?..(Mt. St. Helens)..California?..(several earthquakes a year) Missouri (largest earthquake in U.S. history, New Madrid)...Alaska? (2nd largest earthquake in this century...with tsunami)....and are Chile & Peru 3rd world? And I doubt Japan would like to be called 3rd world any more.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 12:53 PM

In most cases the geology was inplace before the people. So you could equally ask why do third world countries happen in 'these places'?
Life and death are often unfair. Thoughts to all who are suffering there.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Once Famous
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 12:47 PM

I don't know why these types of disasters seem to happen in third world countries, but they just seem to.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: mg
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 12:42 PM

Yes, you would have had panic and traffic jams and people getting trampled. It might have resulted in more deaths but I doubt it. And at least we could say we tried. Some would have made it to higher ground; some might have had time to assemble ropes or collect water and food or blow up an inflatable boat. guess we'll never know. mg

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Peace
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 12:28 PM

Don, is it possible you mean thirty years ago? Just askin'.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: Once Famous
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 12:25 PM

You are trying to blame somebody/anybody for the unfortunate situation. And yes, I don't believe there is much of any kind of infrastructure in place there that would have made much difference. what you would have had is just wide spread panic.

Subject: RE: BS: earthquake, related tsunami bring death
From: mg
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 12:16 PM

I did not blame the government. I blame the idiot persons who did not at least make a few phone calls. And it does not take a whole lot of technology to tell people a big wave is coming and run to higher ground, which apparently was nearby in at least some cases. And to get out of the ocean. How about radio? Do you think none of those countries have radios? Bullhorns? Sirens of some sort? Cell phones? Loud voices? OK, perhaps the "natives" are too technologically underserved to get out of the ocean but there were tourists who probably had their waterproof blackberries with them. mg