the great tsunamis

1293 Kamakura 23,000 dead

1498 Melonankai 30,000 dead

1701 Hoei 30,000 dead

1755 Lisbon 60,000

1771 Yaeyama Isle 12,000

1855 Edo 10,000

1868 Arica 70,000

1896 Meiji 27,000

1908 Messina 70,000

1960 Valdiva 6,000

1008 Papua 2,000

2004 Indian Ocean 300,000

Drowning is not so pitiful
As the attempt to rise
Three times, 'tis said, a sinking man
Comes up to face the skies,
And then declines forever
To that abhorred abode,
Where hope and he part company --
For he is grasped of God.
The Maker's cordial visage,
However good to see,
Is shunned, we must admit it,
Like an adversity.
Emily Dickinson