Tsunami. Till the 26th of December, I'm willing to bet that not much of Malaysia knew just what it was. But now, it's practically a household name. Its printed in all headlines of leading newspapers, it scrolls past on your television screens, people are practically plastered to CNN.

It's frightening, really, how close we all are to disaster. When Ernest told me that Malaysia had been affected by an earthquake, I barely believed him. Through all those Geography lessons in Lower Secondary I remembered, Malaysia is out of the 'Ring of Pacific Fire' (Lingkaran Api Pasifik or something like that), which runs through Indonesia and Philippines around our country. We were taught that Malaysia was free from natural disasters; volcanoes, earthquakes and such, leading to the ignorance of our people, which may explain the lack of a warning system that may have saved many lost lives from innocent bodies.

Let's face it. Langkawi, Phuket, Penang.. All well-known holiday spots. We could have been there. We could have been by the beach, picnic-ing, without a care in the world. Only to be washed away the next minute by waves 10 feet high. My classmates went to a trip to Langkawi two weeks ago, and to be perfectly honest, if this had happened then, I would have FREAKED. Freaked out to no extent. I had friends going on holidays to the northern coasts of the peninsular. And thank god, thank god that my parents came back from Penang just the day before. I would have been more than freaked.

I'm just thankful. Very thankful.

Those who have perished, rest in peace.