Staggering death toll

Avatar for dustbunny48
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Staggering death toll
4
Wed, 12-29-2004 - 12:06am

It seems every time I check the news, the death toll is higher...  at this point in time, it is 68,000 souls lost within a couple hours span.  It will go higher, making this the worst natural disaster in recorded history before it is over. 


As the world scrambles to send aid - medical supplies, food, water purification devices - it strikes me that it takes a disaster of global proportion to shake us from our microcosms and self absorbed little environments, and feel the interconnectedness of humanity around the globe.  Just as it took 9/11 for the IRA to put down their weapons and say 'enough is enough,' it has taken a death wave of staggering proportions for the political and religious adversaries to stop their bickering and reach out to help.  How long will this one last?


I don't believe that God had anything to do with the continental plate shifting 98 feet in one great movement, nor did God punish or reap retribution on anyone in the wall of water that swallowed so many.  But I do believe that the world teaches us lessons, and if we don't learn them soon, we will have another opportunity to learn them later.  More innocents will die.  The lesson is we are all connected.  We are responsible for our 'brothers.'


I recently heard a story about heaven and hell.  In hell, the occupants were starving even though they sat around a pot of glorious stew, but they had really long spoons that were too long to reach into their mouths.  In heaven, the occupants sat around a similar pot of glorious stew, and each held a long spoon, but they were happy and well fed because they had learned to feed each other. 


Send your healing light to the world.  We are in dire straights.


B.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Thu, 12-30-2004 - 12:02pm

It is I think 115,000 now and 5,000 are still unaccounted for.

~Nicole

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-13-2003
Thu, 12-30-2004 - 1:04pm

and although I wasn't born on the Island of Sumatra. it is my birthcountry and that of my Indonesian grandmothers...

am numb.. and am thinking, when will the western world..learn to check that all that money and all that aid, needs supervision that it indeed arrives at the place and in the hands of the people who need it and not on the way in the hands of those for whom it wasn't meant?

am not forgetting all that rice that was send to aid people on the island of Java and to date is still rotting in the harbour of Tandjung Priok by Jakarta!

am soo sceptical that all the aid will arrive where it was meant to be for..

and I am a native of that country!!
numb brush

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2003
Thu, 12-30-2004 - 10:10pm

I can feel your numbness. I have a very dear friend who lives in Bogor Cinere near Jakarta. I was horrified and relieved at the same time that it wasn't on her island that all of this was happening on. Horrified at the fact of so many people losing their lives due to this "act of nature/God".
I sent my friend an email earlier today and am hoping to hear back from her soon. I have said numerous prayers that her and her families will survive all of this. Especially since she has two young children to look out for. It broke my heart to see the pictures of all of the children that have died due to drowning.
May the Powers that Be work all of this out so that there are no more fatalities.

Blessings and love,
Lily

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-31-2003
Thu, 12-30-2004 - 11:00pm
I also add my prayers that the aid makes it to those who need it.