still counting...

The major news outlets were reporting a death toll of 68,000 as of three hours ago.

Honestly, the numbers were counting up so fast they were starting to become meaningless. Then, I got an email this morning from a friend who had flown home to Sri Lanka for the holidays. He was on an east coast beach with some friends, and had to run inland, climb trees to escape the waves, sleep on a "big rock", and get airlifted via helicopter, but he's now safe at home in Colombo. One of his friends is still missing.

It's a bit sad that it takes a personal connection to truly drive home the enormity and horror of such an event, but I guess that's human nature.

Here's a tidbit for the scientifically-minded:

The tremor, the biggest in 40 years, may have caused the Earth to wobble on its axis, permanently accelerating its rotation and shortening days by a fraction of a second, U.S. scientists said.

Really makes you feel small and insignificant and ephemeral, doesn't it?