Earthquake

[lance]

My mom finally got a hold of my aunt who said she had been down at the beach just two days before. I also heard back from my friend, who was travelling at the time. He said normally they go through Phuket, but for some reason they decided to take a different route. He said they didn't even know what had happened until four days later because the island they were visiting had barely any electricity. Then it took a few more days for him and his wife to get back to Borneo because they couldn't get a flight out of Bali. Thanks for all your well wishes. I was really sitting on pins and needles for a few days there.

Kristin, google has a list of some legitimate organizations taking donations. You can also view a list of organizations at US Aid.

Very, very glad to hear that they are okay.

-LanceMan

[TomSpeed]

That's great news, Candygirl. I couldn't imagine going through what those people are dealing with now.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

My friend in Borneo said that his co-workers are finally all accounted for. One thing that my friends and I have discussed is that as much as we know that donating money will help the relief efforts, it feels like it isn't enough and all the scams only make us worry even more that people in need won't receive what is donated. My friend lives there and he said that even though he lives there and donated clothing, they still don't know if their donations will get through. He said that the major concern now is keeping all the newly orphaned females from being kidnapped and trafficked into the sex trade. Although many people have been generous, it's sad to see that a tragedy like this brings out the worst in other people who only want to take advantage of the situation.

[SanDeE*]

I heard on the radio that another huge problem now in that area is the spread of Cholera and other diseases. My friend from Thailand I mentioned earlier said that a big big huge loss for Thailand is the only grandson to the king of Thailand passed away during the tsunami.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

This article is from a local San Diego paper (where he grew up):

Poomi Jensen wore extra tassels on his cap at Torrey Pines High School's graduation ceremony in 2001. With his father by his side, Jensen, who was autistic, couldn't wait for his name to be called so he strode across the stage early.

Jensen, a grandson of the king of Thailand, was killed over the weekend in the devastating tsunami while vacationing at a resort in southern Thailand. He was 21.

His body was recovered and flown to Bangkok for a seven-day Buddhist funeral service.

Jensen grew up in San Diego County with his American father, Thai princess mother and two sisters. While many were aware of his royal background, his high school principal didn't know Jensen was a prince.

Debra Lawler, the school psychologist at Torrey Pines, said Jensen had severe autism and couldn't communicate verbally. She said he loved to build birdhouses in shop class as a way to relax.

"He was really challenged, so everybody got to know him. We sort of all kept an eye on him," said former Torrey Pines principal Marie Grey. "He was normally really happy and had a big smile on his face. He was a sweet young boy."

Jensen's parents met when they were students at Massachussets Institute of Technology and were married in 1972. They settled in Del Mar. His mother, Princess Ubolratana Mahildol, the eldest daughter of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was known as Julie Jensen during her marriage.

She filed for divorce in 1998, and her son – known as Khun Poom to Thais – moved to Thailand with his mother some years ago.

After his parents broke up, each sought custody of Jensen. Lawler remembers both parents attending conferences at school.

"I think they both had the best interests of the child (in mind), but they didn't get along," she said.

Lawler, who knew Jensen was a member of the Thai royal family, said the boy split his time between his parents' homes while attending high school. He was raised with the help of caretakers and nannies, and at one point, bodyguards accompanied him to campus, she said.

On graduation day, Lawler watched Jensen's father take him across the stage. She said Jensen wore five or six tassels on his cap because he liked them.

"When his group went out, he just rushed to the front of the line. He went right across," Lawler said. "He just was ready to go. It was a big deal ... It seems like yesterday."

Initial news reports said Jensen was on a personal water craft at a resort when he was lost, but later reports quoted his mother as saying he had returned from the water craft and was fleeing the massive waves with her and his younger sister when he disappeared.

The Bangkok Post reported that during a funeral rite his grief-stricken mother clipped a lock of her son's hair to remember him by.

His father, a resident of Sunset Cliffs, left for Thailand on Monday, thinking he would be helping in the search for his son's body, said Poomi's grandmother, Margaret Jensen.

"At least they found him," she said. "At least we can get some kind of closure to it. But it's a terrible thing. This is Peter's only son. It is devastating."

She said her grandson was a "very loveable child" who was "very bright in electronics" and enjoyed water sports such as swimming and surfing. She said she hadn't seen him in a couple of years, but that he was attending school in Thailand.

In addition to his parents, he is survived by sisters Ploypailin, who lives in London, and Sirikittiya Mai, a student at UC Riverside.

This article is from the Los Angeles Times:

Thai King's autistic grandson killed by tsunami

BANGKOK, Thailand: Poomi Jensen, the 21-year-old autistic grandson of one of the world's longest reigning monarchs, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, was killed over the weekend by giant waves while jet-skiing at a Khao Lak beach resort in the Phang Nga province of southern Thailand, one of the regions hit hardest by the tsunami that killed at least 60,000 people in southern Asia.
 
Growing up in laid-back San Diego, Poomi Jensen was a world away from the pomp and circumstance of his Thai royal family. The American-born prince spent much of his childhood not inside gilded palaces but on Southern California's sunny beaches.
 
The son of a Thai princess and an American businessman, Jensen attended schools in San Diego, family friends said. He went to live in Thailand with his mother a few years ago, after his parents waged a custody battle over him in a bitter divorce.
 
Though the young man was autistic and attended special university classes while in Thailand, he often accompanied his mother, Princess Ubolratana, to official and social functions.
 
In a departure from Thai tradition, the princess was open about her son's disability, discussing his special needs in interviews and lending her name to fund-raising drives for autism.
 
"Everyone knew [about his autism], and loved him and accepted him," said Chom Patchphradub, an executive producer for Network of Asian Telecommunications, TV and Radio in North Hollywood. "We loved him very much, the Thai people here. Everyone misses him."
 
His mother has accompanied his body back to Bangkok for royal funeral rites.
 
The body of the prince, known as Khun Poom to Thais, will lie in the palace for seven days in accordance with Buddhist tradition, after which it will be cremated in an ornate royal coffin, said Isinthorn Sornvai, the Thai consul general in Los Angeles.
 
In 1972, Jensen's mother scandalized her family and shocked international high-society circles when she fell in love with commoner Peter Jensen and relinquished her title so she could marry him. The princess, the eldest child of the king and Queen Sirikit, met Jensen while they were students at MIT.
 
Despite years of banishment from the royal household, the princess, known as Julie by her American friends, eventually reconciled with her parents.
 
The Jensens often picnicked and enjoyed the beach near their Del Mar home.
 
Peter Jensen, a locally prominent businessman, was involved in several high-profile ventures, including a gold-mining business in Northern California and companies in the water sales market.
 
The prince's father, who could not be reached for comment, was said to be preparing to travel to Thailand.
 
"Peter is extremely devoted to his family, particularly to his children," said Michael P. George, a former business partner and chief executive of Western Water Co.
 
After raising Poomi Jensen and two daughters in suburban San Diego, the couple's fairy-tale romance crumbled. When they divorced in 1998, Peter Jensen sought to keep his ex-wife from taking their son with her to Thailand. At a 1999 news conference in Bangkok, the princess accused her ex-husband of adultery and of "using the children as a bargaining chip" in their divorce.
 
According to San Diego Superior Court documents, Peter Jensen argued that his son's autism and sometimes violent behaviour left the boy unable to function without supervision and that he might be endangered in Thailand.
 
But court officials who evaluated Poomi Jensen approved the move, concluding that "extensive resources" would be available to the boy in Thailand because of his protected position there. The older Jensen lost an appeal.
 
The prince's condition improved after he graduated from Torrey Pines High School in Del Mar, where he took special education classes, and moved to Thailand, where he had new doctors, his mother said in a January 2002 interview with the Bangkok Post. He was trying "to communicate with others and to socialize more," she said.
 
This year, palace officials announced that the prince would volunteer for military police service, even though his autism could have exempted him.
 
The cover of the May 2004 issue of Jewelry and Diamonds, a Thai high-society magazine, depicted the dark-haired royal in uniformed regalia. Inside, a glossy, 25-page photo spread showed him saluting and on horseback. The article also described him as so gifted with numbers that he could perform calculations involving distant calendar dates with speed and accuracy.
 
In addition to his parents, Poomi Jensen is survived by two sisters.
 
(Source:  The Los Angeles Times, December 29, 2004)