Clarke OK

I have been wondering since the tsunami if Arthur C. Clarke was alright. It has always been an interesting bit of trivia to me that Clarke lives in Sri Lanka. When the calamity happened I didn't hear about him on any of the news shows. I guess that bit of trivia isn't as important to other people.

Today I was looking at the Ebert page and saw this link:

Arthur C. Clarke from Sri Lanka

I guess Roger Ebert knows Arthur C. Clarke from covering the 2001 movie series. Ebert's site said that Clarke was ok, and pointed me to this site:

The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation

Which included the following letter:

From Sir Arthur regarding the recent tsunamis in South and Southeast Asia:

Thank you for your concern about my safety in the wake of Sunday's devastating tidal wave.

I am enormously relieved that my family and household have escaped the ravages of the sea that suddenly invaded most parts of coastal Sri Lanka, leaving a trail of destruction.

But many others were not so fortunate. For hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans and an unknown number of foreign tourists, the day after Christmas turned out to be a living nightmare reminiscent of The Day After Tomorrow.

Among those affected are my staff based at our diving station in Hikkaduwa and holiday bungalow in Kahawa - both beachfront properties located in areas worst hit. We still don't know the full extent of damage as both roads and phones have been damaged. Early reports indicate that we have lost most of our diving equipment and boats. Not all our staff members are accounted for - yet.

This is indeed a disaster of unprecedented magnitude for Sri Lanka which lacks the resources and capacity to cope with the aftermath. We are all trying to contribute to the relief efforts. We shall keep you informed as we learn more about what happened.

Curiously enough, in my first book on Sri Lanka, I had written about another tidal wave reaching the Galle harbour (see Chapter 8 in The Reefs of Taprobane, 1957). That happened in August 1883, following the eruption of Krakatoa in roughly the same part of the Indian Ocean.

Arthur Clarke
27 December 2004

Nice to know he made it.