A devastating earthquake and tsunamis killed more than 100,000 people [deathcount as of Thursday morning, Dec 30] and left thousands missing from 10 countries, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Thailand, last weekend.

Openly gay interior designer Nate Berkus, a regular on The Oprah Winfrey Show and a major supporter of gay and AIDS causes in Chicago, told CNN he barely survived the wave that hit him when he was staying with a friend at a resort in Sri Lanka, the Chicago Tribune reported. ‘Berkus said he and a friend were sleeping in a beachfront cottage at Arugam Bay on Sri Lanka’s eastern coast when he heard a loud noise and the roof was ripped off. Berkus, 33, said they were swept into the sea along with debris, animals and other people. The two grabbed a telephone pole, he said, but lost their grips when a second large wave hit. Berkus told CNN that he climbed onto the roof of a home; his friend was missing,’ the Tribune reported.

365Gay.com reports that ‘the Thai resort island of Phuket, popular with gay tourists from Australia, North America and Europe, was struck by a 10-meter-high tidal wave. About 70 people, many of them tourists, are confirmed dead and hundreds are injured,’ 365gay.com reported. 

‘Phuket Island is called the pearl of Southern Thailand with its sun drenched beaches. This is the height of the tourist season and hotels and gay guest houses were filled.’