Saturday, January 01, 2005

Elders Save Entire Town

It seems like you can't go anywhere without seeing more Tsunami news, casualty updates, a discussion on what "stingy" is. But here's a story I haven't seen make the rounds yet.
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.

There's something very uplifting picturing the 65-year-old village chief leading his town to safety. In our complex world, it's nice to know somethings really can be pretty simple.

Hat Tip: The Original Musings