Doesn't Arthur C. Clarke live in Sri Lanka? Any news on how he's doing? I know he's confined to a wheelchair.
As far as I know he still does. This area is routinely known for huge natural disasters, with the floods from the Ganges, etc.
Remember, last Christmas, something like 40,000 were killed in Bam in Iran, I was deeply struck by that politics aside, I recall seeing pictures of the fortresses and citadels there when I was a child.
My heart goes out to all of them.