But this is the first time I've heard anyone quote the half-million number in casualty estimates. I eventually stopped listening about half-way through the clip as it seemed that every thing the Archbishop said was worse than the sentence before: all the children at school. All the seminarians. And countless other people, going about their busy afternoons.
I'm occasionally glad I don't have a very good imagination. For some reason, this particular paragraph from a report by Food for the Poor reduced me to tears:
Panic-stricken residents filled the streets desperately trying to dig people from rubble or seeking missing relatives as dark fell shortly after the quake. “People were screaming ‘Jesus, Jesus’ and running in all directions,” Delva said.Thanks to Mags and Inside Catholic for the links on updates and relief avenues. I've donated to Food for the Poor. We also have to pray for the success of the relief efforts -- it's evidently a logistical nightmare with the infrastructure destroyed and the government MIA.
2 comments:
I'm right there with you on the bad imagination thing -- I find myself not wanting to read too many of these first-hand accounts, because it inevitably fills in more details than I can handle, and suddenly I'm totally overwhelmed.
That seems pretty lame of me, though. Like, heaven forbid I would have to read about what these people are going through! Sigh.
I've made my donation to Catholic Relief Services, and I'm praying, but it still feels grossly insignificant. And like you said, things are about to get worse. Clearly someone needs to airlift in some Germans, a la Eddie Izzard, to organize everything pronto.
I think it's appropriate, really. I'm selfish enough (and have a bad enough imagination) that I need some first-hand accounts to make me realize what's happened and offer help and prayers.
After that, it probably isn't appropriate to dwell in it too much -- there isn't any point and we don't help them more by making ourselves as miserable as possible.
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