December 31, 2004: Headlines: COS - Thailand: COS - Kazakstan: Tsunami: Charlotte Observer: Kazakstan RPCV Diana Aljet's voice was shaking when she called her parents from the coast of Thailand Sunday morning: I've got some cuts and bruises and lost some belongings, but I'm OK. They have not heard from her again and have posted a description of their daughter on a CNN.com message board
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December 31, 2004: Headlines: COS - Thailand: COS - Kazakstan: Tsunami: Charlotte Observer: Kazakstan RPCV Diana Aljet's voice was shaking when she called her parents from the coast of Thailand Sunday morning: I've got some cuts and bruises and lost some belongings, but I'm OK. They have not heard from her again and have posted a description of their daughter on a CNN.com message board
| Peace Corps issues appeal to Thailand RPCVs Peace Corps is currently assessing the situation in Thailand, anticipates a need for volunteers and is making an appeal to all Thailand RPCV's to consider serving again through the Crisis Corps. Also read this message and this message from RPCVs in Thailand. All PCVs serving in Thailand are safe. Latest: Sri Lanka RPCVs, click here for info. |
Kazakstan RPCV Diana Aljet's voice was shaking when she called her parents from the coast of Thailand Sunday morning: I've got some cuts and bruises and lost some belongings, but I'm OK. They have not heard from her again and have posted a description of their daughter on a CNN.com message board
Kazakstan RPCV Diana Aljet's voice was shaking when she called her parents from the coast of Thailand Sunday morning: I've got some cuts and bruises and lost some belongings, but I'm OK. They have not heard from her again and have posted a description of their daughter on a CNN.com message board
Charlotte area families wait, worry
Matthews parents haven't heard from daughter since Sunday
CRISTINA BOLLING
Caption: General view of Ton Sai Bay in Thailand's Phi Phi island, December 28, 2004 after a tsunami hit the area. Nations bordering the Indian Ocean from Indonesia to Sri Lanka clawed through the wreckage of a quake-triggered tsunami for bodies to bury on Tuesday as fears grew the toll would exceed the 50,000 now reported killed. REUTERS/Luis Enrique Ascui
[Excerpt]
Staff Writer
Diana Aljet's voice was shaking when she called her parents from the coast of Thailand Sunday morning: I've got some cuts and bruises and lost some belongings, but I'm OK.
The conversation lasted barely a minute, and Aljet's parents, Carol and Gary Aljets of Matthews, figured they'd hear from her again in the next day or so.
They haven't.
It's uncharacteristic for Diana, 26, to not check in during such a disaster, her parents said. "We're hysterical," Carol Aljets said.
The Aljets are one of several families with Charlotte-area ties who are worried about loved ones who were in or near the areas hardest hit by the tsunamis that have claimed at least 117,000 lives.
Diana Aljets wrapped up a two-year Peace Corps stint in Kazakstan earlier this month, and was spending a week or two at a $5-a-night hotel in Krabi, Thailand, waiting for a visa to visit Vietnam, her parents said.
Thai press reports Thursday estimated that 340 people perished in Krabi, off the southwest coast of Thailand. Reports said at least 48 hotels there were totally or partially damaged.
In the past few days, the Aljets have posted a description of their daughter on a CNN.com message board, called the international Red Cross and contacted the U.S. State Department office for Americans in trouble overseas.
Gary Aljets recalls the quivers in his daughter's voice during their brief conversation.
"She was in shock. I could tell from the way she was talking," he said. "She said she was gonna try to find how to get out of there."
When this story was posted in December 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| The World's Broken Promise to our Children Former Director Carol Bellamy, now head of Unicef, says that the appalling conditions endured today by half the world's children speak to a broken promise. Too many governments are doing worse than neglecting children -- they are making deliberate, informed choices that hurt children. Read her op-ed and Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children 2005. |
| Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia." |
| Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors. |
| The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn. |
| Charges possible in 1976 PCV slaying Congressman Norm Dicks has asked the U.S. attorney in Seattle to consider pursuing charges against Dennis Priven, the man accused of killing Peace Corps Volunteer Deborah Gardner on the South Pacific island of Tonga 28 years ago. Background on this story here and here. |
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Story Source: Charlotte Observer
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Thailand; COS - Kazakstan; Tsunami
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