Gulf War - I was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and heard about the invasion of Kuwait, and my parents being very worried. Soon afterwards we heard about the US coming in and all of a sudden US troops were everywhere. We were evacuated to Jeddah, a city towards the west and stayed there for a while. We had all the gas masks and stored food, windows taped and boarded up, and a school was hit by a missile nearby but we weren't in too much danger.
September 11 - I was in Australia, asleep just before dawn and my mum came in to tell me the World Trade Centre had been destroyed in New York, I didn't know what she was talking about. I came downstairs a bit later to see the news on TV and went to school that day. I've never cried at a world event until then
Gulf War 2 - Again in Melbourne, I was in a philosophy lecture at uni and had sent a dozen text messages to my brother asking what was going on. Finally one of his replies told me that the war had officially started. I told the person next to me and word got around the whole lecture theatre, and someone stood up and announced it to everyone.
Columbia disaster - I was at a beach house outside Melbourne with some friends and since the weather had turned bad we were watching TV and a newsflash came on about the disaster. Nobody else seemed to care but I was sad about it for a long time.
Columbine massacre - In high school in Melbourne. I'm not sure where I was at the exact time, but I remember the rumors at school that similar things were going to happen. One student was also sent home that day as the staff thought he was going to do the same thing, and there were heaps of rumors about him coming to school with weapons. The principal went to his house that day to ask if he knew anything about Columbine. Of course the kid was just a bit of a misfit at school, he had nothing to do with what was going on.
Princess Diana - I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and caught the news flashes unfolding. I was too young to realize the significance of it all but I thought it was sad anyway.
December 2004 tsunami - I'd just started volunteering for Oxfam in Melbourne in the call centre for donations. I remember hearing about the tsunami and thinking 'This will be huge'. From then on it was non-stop donations for weeks on end. Since then I've sort of thought it as a sign that the day before the tsunamis I'd signed up for the position.
And one for the Aussies:
Port Arthur Massacre - I was in primary (elementary) school in Melbourne and the school was locked down. Nobody knew what was going on except that a man with a gun was around, killing people. We weren't allowed to leave the school unless a parent came and picked us up, and I was worried sick that I'd be stuck at school forever because I had no way of contacting my parents. I thought I'd have to live at the school from now on. For those who don't know about the Port Arthur massacre, <a href="http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial/bryant/">read it about it here</a>.