I am posting this a week to the minute after the earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Please read the Wikipedia article on the earthquake and tsunami that has a wealth of detail and helpful links.

Our family has sent our aid response through an organisation called World Vision Australia (part of World Vision International) because we support several children in under-developed countries through it. The CEO is Rev. Tim Costello, who is very prominent in Australia (and not just because of his brother, the federal Treasurer, Peter Costello.) Tim has been in Sri Lanks in the last few days, and has received considerable media coverage as a result.

I feel numbed by the whole thing.

I also feel angry that people think that governments were 'hiding' information from them, as was reported in some of the media especially early on, when "blind Freddy" could tell that it was a catastrope of mamoth proportions and that no-one knew what was going on. Just because our attention span has been shrunk by the speed of media and the internet does not mean that everything can be done at the speed of light.

I also feel upset that there are folk who feel they must go to these places in order to look for their loved-ones. This was always going to be pointless. It made the living feel better that they were doing something, but the funds required to get there for a fruitless search was always going to be better spent by donating it to a charity that COULD do something.

These are MY reactions to my reactions to the devastation.

Maybe it is my attitude to Christian faith that builds in a certain acceptance of WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING. (Call it fatalism if that helps you explain it, although I would not!)

I can accept that the Earth is a dynamic system. We humans have chosen to live where we do.

May the peace that comes from God be with you.

_____
Peter