The stories out of Southeast Asia are heart-breaking. It’s impossible to comprehend 40,000 people dying from a single natural disaster and the ensuing fallout. Some of the firsthand accounts have been pretty spectacular, since a disaster of this scale is so rarely seen. This account from the Washington Post caught my attention:

As I swam to shore, my mind was momentarily befuddled by two conflicting impressions — the idyllic blue sky and the rapidly rising waters.

In less than a minute, the water level had risen at least 15 feet, but the sea remained calm, with barely a wave in sight.

Within minutes, the beach and the area behind it had become an inland sea that rushed over the road and poured into the flimsy houses on the other side. The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible, a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced.