East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Although under 50 Swedes were officially known to have died, around 10,000 were thought to have been in the area. So the Swedish Foreign Office sent a text message to 10,000 people in the area with Swedish telephone numbers. It’s one of the benefits of GSM’s roaming capabilities that persons using the handsets abroad can be readily identified.

Celebrations were cancelled in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and the country’s President, Susilo Yudhoyono, used his annual address to call for national unity in the face of the disaster.

New Year ceremonies were muted across the disaster zone. In Phuket, Thailand, where thousands died, survivors gathered but there was little cheer.

Just as you wondered whether human nature could sink any lower, the spams start arriving requesting money for charities that don’t exist.