Samoan Tsunami: Picking Up the Pieces
In the wake of Tuesday’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami that have wreaked havoc on the people of the Samoan islands, I ask Americans to remember those affected, and think about what you can do to help.
The devastation these people will feel in the coming weeks while they search desperately for their loved ones, and attempt to pick up the pieces of their broken lives is unimaginable. This is something that hits very close to home with me as I can remember my own devastation — as well as that of my entire family — after the tsunami that hit Phuket on December 26, 2004. Nine members of my family — spanning three generations — had set out to spend the holidays together in paradise, and were among the 230,000 lives lost in that horrible disaster. The search and recovery process was long and painful — and in the end, all but one of them was found and laid to rest. It’s a loss that you don’t ever fully heal from, and my heart aches just thinking of all the people faced with that same devastation today.
The relief effort is gearing up to bring aid to those affected by Tuesday’s tsunami, but relief groups like FEMA and the American Red Cross need help. From a health standpoint, immediate medical concerns may be cuts, lacerations and broken bones suffered by those who tried to escape danger. And as the weeks pass, aid workers will start to turn their efforts to providing people in these areas with food, water and shelter.
So please, keep them in your thoughts and prayers. And for more information on how you can help, click here.
Tags: American Red Cross, American Samoa, donations, Dr. Manny Alvarez, earthquake, FEMA, Phuket, relief effort, Samoa, Samoan islands, Thailand, Tonga, tsunami, tsunami devastation
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My 15 year old son asked the other day why God would allow such things to happen. He explained that if God knows everything then he must know that beloved family members are going to perish. I quite frankly don’t have answers to some of his skeptical questions.
The conventional Christian answer is found in Boethius’s, ‘Consolation of Philosophy’; that God being all knowing and not finate, sees all time , not in a linear fashion like mortals, but all at once and in entirety, and knows , which we cannot, that ultimate purposes and good can flow from what we see as sad acts of fortune. The position is that even evil acts have a purpose for good that we cannot understand…” now we see dimly, but then face to face.”
Don’t be deceived and research the H1N1 vaccine for yourself. Don’t believe everything a doctor tells you because if they told you what you REALLY needed to hear they would be out of business. Instead they would rather give you a pill instead of telling you change your diet and eat right and exercise. I wouldn’t put nothing in my body that hasn’t been tested. Americans are the guinea pigs and everyone better wake up and see what’s going on. Research Baxter, the company that is contaminating this vaccine.
I learned a lot from this blog post. The disaster is a very terrible thing, but people are going to have a chance to make strides forward through this tragedy. The people that were rescued will have the opportunity to make recoverys. Te medical staff that assisted in the recovery are going to be blessed with the chance to learn and grow from this experience. The disaster is an awful tradegy but people will have the chance to move forward from it.
I’m trying to provide a place where stroke survivors can get FRIENDLY information and talk to one another. Please provide a link to the site. I am a stroke survivor.
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