30 December 2004
'I am Arthur C Clarke, I'm safe'
Narendra Nag New Delhi
RENOWNED SCI-FI author and Sri Lanka's most famous expat, Arthur C. Clarke, has just lived through an incident that he had described in his first book on the country - The Reefs of Taprobane. Written in 1957, he wrote about a tsunami reaching the Galle har bour, after the Krakatoa eruption in 1883.
He refers to this at the bottom of a message he posted on his website on Monday after he was flooded with queries about his wellbeing. In the message, he says that he is safe, but his staff members are not accounted for.
But in his second message on Wednesday, he says that while his properties have suffered, his staff and family members are safe. "We still don't know the full extent of the damage. It will take a while for us to take stock." For fans who posted links to these messages all over the Net, the fact that Clarke is alive and well comes as good news.
epaper solution by BODHTREE