Indonesia Earthquake

You'll have to click on the screenshot to see greater detail and to make sense of what I'm saying (if you're in Firefox just open it in a new tab). I woke up this morning (after falling asleep early last night) and looked at the news section of my Google toolbar. I immediately noticed that there had apparently been a large earthquake in Indonesia. It wasn't until I looked a bit closer that I saw the whole story.

As is normal with disasters such as this (look at the 2004 Tsunami or Hurrican Katrina--though thankfully numbers went down with the latter) initial reports are almost always incomplete, especially in countries closer to Third World status.

Sidenote: These terms are holdovers from the Cold War. First World refers to the anti-communist Western allies such as the United States, the United Kingdom, West Germany, etc... Second World refers to the Soviet Union and its allies and satellites. The Third World are all of the other nations of the world, usually impoverished and battlegrounds in the Cold War.

The initial reports from 11 hours ago say 15 dead with hundreds wounded. By nine hours ago another news source was reporting 50 dead. Not a huge jump and not as big of a disaster as is now apparent. Especially with the recent Tsunami death toll this must not seem like a great deal in Indonesia. But, the numbers were nowhere near complete.

As of five hours ago estimates had jumped to 1,300 dead. Finally the death toll now stands at 2,700. I'm sure that it will probably rise from there as the bodies are counted (and this time there shouldn't be too many missing as there were none washed out to sea).

It is at times like this that we can bemoan what sin has brought to this world. Yes, people die every day and many more than this. However, they are not concentrated in one place, are thus ignored by the media, and so we seldom think about it. We don't think about the thousands of babies murdered in China (or even the United States), or the hundreds dying of starvation in Africa, or dying in genocidal campaigns in the Sudan.

When God created the world, "it was good." There was no sin, no disease, no suffering. It is the legacy of Adam and Eve that we now live in this cursed world of sin and suffering. But God is so glorious, for one day he will burn away all sin and create a new heaven and a new earth where there will be no sin, no suffering, no crying. 'Tis truly a great day to look forward to, and every day like this should remind me that something better lies ahead.

~Matt