Arnesto Modesto: The World's Most Ineffectual Time Traveler

Making Waves

Coastal Waters

Sumatra, Indonesia

Sunday, December 26, 2004

7:59 a.m.

Around eight o'clock in the morning on December 26, 2004, the third-largest earthquake ever recorded began off the coast of Sumatra.

It wouldn't stop for ten minutes.

The entire earth vibrated about a centimeter.

Arnesto and the rest of the world remained glued to live coverage of the event. Arnesto started with the channel featuring Father Martin as a special guest and watched with pride as the priest spoke with eloquence and diplomacy. It couldn't have been easy to answer the same questions over and over with no new answers to give. Sometimes they would ask him how humanitarian efforts were going in the countries that hadn't been hit yet, which gave him some respite. Once they turned to the subject of his source, Arnesto felt uncomfortable hearing about himself and changed the channel.

He was astounded by what he saw this time around.

He remembered from his past life the shocking amateur videos of the huge tsunami waves smashing through everything in their path, but those videos were nothing compared to the countless hours of professional, high-definition video taken this time. There were waves up to one hundred feet high! The best part, though, was how few people were seen in the videos.

Still, there were many casualties. Not all evacuations were successful, often due to miscalculations on the part of the people in charge. Some underestimated the speed and/or power of the water. Some evacuations of the more remote villages took longer than expected. A few were unwilling to leave their homes which they had known all their lives, and of course, there were those who thought God would protect them while others thought it was God's will that they perish. Some just flat out didn't believe the warnings.

All in all, hundreds were confirmed dead or went missing. Arnesto was grateful his warning via Father Martin had saved ninety-nine percent of those involved. But the event was still a tragedy, and after seeing images of the dead and the widespread damage and homelessness, it didn't feel like a win.