Unfortunately, Nate is now in the news for something other than his ability to redecorate a room. Nate is a survivor of the Tsunami disaster.
Nate and his partner, photographer Fernando Bengoechea, were vacationing in Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit. While Nate survived, Fernando is still misssing, and is presumed dead.
Nate described the tidal wave: "All of a sudden the roof was ripped off the cottage, and my friend and I were taken out to sea. We were able to hang on to a telephone pole with a mattress wedged between us for literally 30 seconds. There was a calm in the storm, and then another wave hit. Both of us were torn away from the phone pole."
Berkus said he climbed to safety on the roof of a home.
Curiously, the original http://fernandoandnate.blogspot.com has been deleted, and there's a redirect to oprah.com. The obvious answer is that Oprah and Harpo are retaining some sort of rights to Nate's Story.
Luckily, through the wonder of science and a little bit of cheating, i was able to get access to the original site. i would check it out before it's gone for good.
My heart goes out to Nate Berkus and Fernando's family. What a horrible tragedy.
