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| Southeast Asia |
| Elders' Sea Knowledge Spares Some Thais |
| 2005-01-02 |
| BANGKOK, Thailand - Knowledge of the ocean and its currents passed down from generation to generation of a group of Thai fishermen known as the Morgan sea gypsies saved an entire village from the Asian tsunami, a newspaper said Saturday. By the time killer waves crashed over southern Thailand last Sunday the entire 181 population of their fishing village had fled to a temple in the mountains of South Surin Island, English language Thai daily The Nation reported. "The elders told us that if the water recedes fast it will reappear in the same quantity in which it disappeared," 65-year-old village chief Sarmao Kathalay told the paper. Looks like some elders are in for a whole lotta reverencin'. So while in some places along the southern coast, Thais headed to the beach when the sea drained out of beaches — the first sign of the impending tsunami — to pick up fish left flapping on the sand, the gypsies headed for the hills. Few people in Thailand have a closer relationship with the sea than the Morgan sea gypsies, who spend each monsoon season on their boats plying the waters of the Andaman Sea from India to Indonesia and back to Thailand. Between April and December, they live in shelters on the shore surviving by catching shrimp and spear fishing. At boat launching festivals each May, they ask the sea for forgiveness. A ray of light amidst the darkness. |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #8 Never thought of that, you're likely right. Course they could have been financed by JP at some point, who knows. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-01-02 8:07:28 PM |
| #7 Could be named after a pirate or rum. |
| Posted by: John Q. Citizen 2005-01-02 6:31:16 PM |
| #6 Odd an Asian people named after a quaint yet expensive sprots car. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-01-02 6:27:38 PM |
| #5 WT - Cool story, thx! Lessee... According to my copy of the schedule, Serendipity is set for 8:00 AM tomorrow at the UN... |
| Posted by: .com 2005-01-02 6:24:08 PM |
| #4 See this BBC article about what a schoolgirl knew |
| Posted by: Whutch Threth6418 2005-01-02 6:07:58 PM |
| #3 I just got back from a restaurant & overhead a middle-aged lady (who looked & sounded fairly well educated) saying to a companion that she had no idea that earthquakes caused "tidal waves." She also said she pitied the people on boats out to sea (which, I think, is actually one of the safer places to ride out a tsunami, a basically coastal event). The first time I visited Hawaii, I asked about the presence of the yellow-painted poles along the shore with sirens mounted on them, I didn't think they were for tornado warnings. I was told they were tsunami sirens, & if they sounded, go uphill ASAP! I thought it was a little strange that there were no signs on these poles, and no formal warning was given to first-time visitors. I guess the locals figured the visitors didn't need to know. Never underestimate the power of ignorance. |
| Posted by: Whutch Threth6418 2005-01-02 5:57:38 PM |
| #2 Is this knowlege--- that a sea that recedes so suddenly as to strand fish is the harbinger of a catastrophic return of all that water---so esoteric? I am trying to remember when I was first told about what this sort of occurance meant; possibly my father (the research biologist) taught us about it, amid safety hints about rattlesnakes, earthquakes, large mammals defending their young, and the hazards of crossing busy city streets. It may have been something I picked up when I read James Michener's "Hawaii", or when I was stationed in Japan, at a base approximatly three miles from the sea and elevated from it by one or two feet, but the point is I have always known about this, and I would no more stick around to admire the sand flats and the flopping fish than I would stick my hand in a running garbage disposal! Especially following on an earthquake! I would be running for high ground as fast as I could, screaming all the way, and I am most definatly not a Morgan sea gypsy!Sooooo...I know that the regular Rantburgers are a fairly knowlegeable and well-read (not to say well-experienced bunch)... but wasn't this fairly common knowlege prior to last Sunday morning? It freaks me out to read about all the people who blithely went walking out to look at the damned fish, instead of beating feet in the other direction. Did I just have a rather peculiar upbringing; I thought this knowlege about the warning sign of a tsunami was fairly common! |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2005-01-02 5:30:27 PM |
| #1 Article: At boat launching festivals each May, they ask the sea for forgiveness. Mother Nature stands for Mother****er, and he's a murdering sumbitch. This is why our ancestors used to worship him as a vengeful god. Whackjob environmentalists are just worshippers of this deity by another name, with global-warming as their current religious fetish. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-01-02 2:51:48 AM |