With the tsunami that affected South East Asia, it’s crazy to hear of the insane numbers of people dead. Hundreds of thousands. Try to comprehend that a minute. Try counting from 1 to 1,000 out loud and fathom how long it took you, and how long it would take you to do that 300 times again. That’s a lot of people dead.

What really shook me is what email I got the same day I got back from Mike Regina’s funeral and received this email regarding a friend from college:

From: “Dean Thomas F. Cooley”
Subject: Memorial for Stern Alumna, Hannah Shi
Dear Alumnus/a:

The recent devastation caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunamis in South Asia and East Africa and the people it has affected have been in the hearts and minds of all of us here at Stern. Sadly, this tragedy has touched the Stern community with the loss of Hannah Shi, an alumna of the Stern Undergraduate class of 2001. Hannah, an investment banker with Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, was vacationing in Thailand at the time. A memorial service for Hannah will be held this Friday, January 14 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan (Park Avenue at 51st Street).

We are still working to confirm the safety of our many international alumni and students and ask that you share any news regarding fellow Stern alumni with the School’s Office of Alumni Affairs via email at alumni@stern.nyu.edu or by phone at 212-998-4040.

This unprecedented tragedy reminds us all of the interconnectedness of the Stern community with the global community. We are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend and alumna Hannah Shi and offer our sincere condolences to all of you whose lives she touched.

Sincerely,
Thomas F. Cooley, Dean
Sally Blount-Lyon, Vice Dean and Dean, Undergraduate College

Then the news flooded in, and then I saw the cover of the NY Post in the pic above. Absolute shock.

News links of what happened (or press more at the end of this post to view my archive of it):
News from her Church | Newsday Article | Gothamist

I always remembered her as one the friendliest people at NYU. We had a quite of few classes together including a public speaking class that had a lot of improv, where I got to see a lot of her playful humor. Her classic greeting was a long “hiiiieeee~” or “byyyeeee~.” There’s pictures of her in the gallery in the NYU graduation section here:

Be sure to check the pic called “Peeping Hannah”. Here’s just an example of how playful her personality is. You can see that she’s sitting behind us, peering between Mike and I with a laughing smile (that’s Nancy next to her). (click the pic for full size)

From her church: http://www.mnys.org/Headlines/tsunami_elca.html

Hannah Shi, a dear family member relating to members of Grace Chinese Lutheran Church in Elmhurst, Queens, New York, was killed in Thailand when a tidal wave struck and destroyed the hotel where she had been staying. She was the first New Yorker to be identified as a casualty of the Indian Ocean tsunami of Dec. 26 that has claimed an estimated 150,000 lives.

Shi, 25, graduated from the NYU Stern School of Business in 2001. She became a highly reputed finance analyst with the Morgan Stanley firm in New York, and relocated to its Hong Kong branch in August 2003. She and several colleagues were vacationing at the Princess Phi Phi Hotel, a beachfront bungalow resort on the islands next to Phuket, Thailand.

“All her colleagues were out on a tour that day,” says Pastor Abraham Lu of Grace Chinese Church. “But she did not feel well and chose to stay in the hotel. When her colleagues were rescued from the other area and got to the hotel, nothing but bare land was left.”

According to an article in the New York Post (“Wave Hits Home: N.Y.C. tsunami victim,” Sunday, January 9, 2005), Shi’s parents flew to Thailand on December 29 to find her. Assisted by the Morgan Stanley firm, they spent a week searching through thousands of corpses.

“It was the saddest journey of our lives,” her father said. “It was so hard searching for her. We desperately wanted to find her. But we were so scared. We had little hope because we knew if we found her, it was over.” They eventually found her in a Buddhist temple about 40 miles northeast of Phuket. She was identified by two piercings in her left ear and dental records.

Shi’s body was flown back to Queens on Saturday, January 8. She is survived by her father, Rong Shi, 54; her mother, Yan Sun; and her sister, Annie, 14. Her sister Annie and her 90 year old grandmother, Xi-Ying Shi, are very active members at Grace Chinese Lutheran Church.
“Hannah came to the United States at the age of 9, was brought to church by her grandmother and enjoyed the church environment,” Pastor Lu recalls. “Please pray for the Shi family.”

A memorial service is scheduled for Friday, January 14 at 10 a.m. at St. Bartholomew’s Church, 109 E. 50 St. on Park Avenue in Manhattan. (212-378-0200) Condolences may be sent to the Shi family in care of Grace Chinese Lutheran Church, 43-33 91st Place, Elmhurst, NY 11373.

Article from Newsday: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/nyc-tsun0115,0,4730316.story

January 14, 2005

Hannah Shi was remembered as a smart and strong leader by the more than 700 friends and family who attended her funeral Friday.

The 90-minute service for Shi, 25, a Rego Park resident and the only known New York City resident killed in the Indian Ocean tsunami, was conducted in English and Mandarin and included a slide show of her life, as well as a posthumous proclamation from City Councilmen Jonathan Liu.

“This was a very powerful combination of looking at her family and personal life and her professional life,” the Rev William McD. Tully who delivered one of two homilies, said after the service. “She lived life intensely. Very few people will have a funeral like this.”

Shi was eulogized by her father, Rong Shi, and sister, Annie Shi, and was remembered as a friend who could be counted on.

Several colleagues from Morgan Stanley, where she worked in the Hong Kong office, participated in the service held at St. Bartholomew’s Church on the Upper East Side.

Shi was in her bed in a bungalow at a resort on Thailand’s Phi Phi island, where she was vacationing, then the tsunami hit. Friends traveling with her survived because they went diving on the other side of the island that morning, while Shi stayed in because she had a spa appointment later that day.

Rong Shi said in his eulogy that the family will never understand why she was taken, but will take comfort that she died “in her golden years.”

After the service, Liu presented the Shi family with an outstanding citizen award in Hannah Shi’s name. Two plasma screen TVs were brought into the sanctuary for the slide show of her life.

Hannah Shi came with her parents to New York at 9 and graduated from Forest Hills High School. She earned a four-year scholarship to the Stern School of Business at New York University and took a job at Morgan Stanley, eventually transferring to Hong Kong.

“She was always there for me, always kidding around. Great person to be around,” said Jeffrey Hu, who grew up with Shi. “Whenever you are down she was always there to talk to you. It’s a very sad day right now to lose someone that special at such a young age.”