Catastrophic natural disaster is never new. I for one, have seen plenty of typhoons yearly here in my fatherland. They destroy, they kill. Frank, the strongest that hit my province Iloilo killed tens, and the aftermath is just woeful. But then, it isn't as shattering as what happened recently off the Philippine coast. It isn't as grim and heartbreaking as the massive earthquake and tsunamis that hit Japan.
Truth be told, I didn't give a damn when the situation first came up at the news. There's bloodshed in Libya, places in Africa and elsewhere so what's so special about it? is the initial thought. I didn't care as long as I'm in a virtual adventure in a fictional post-apocalyptic Mojave. And so one night, everyone's watching the news and this computer set's right next to the television. I turned, and saw a chilling scene: an aerial footage showing murky, heavily littered seawater engulfing a town and surrounding farmlands in Japan.
I can't recall where it is. The scene is simply staggering and you'll be asking yourself a few questions. What if there's a family trapped in that house, or inside that car on the washed out road? What if someone's standing on that plowed field that day for some reason? What if I was there, with that dark wave coming right at me? Why does this have to happen? Et cetera.
Recent estimates of those killed by the tsunami in Japan is 10,000 in Miyagi prefecture alone and authorities say Japan's lucky with that number, given that Indonesia in 2004 took the toll of about 230,000. The world is sure effed up.
Tonight, I've decided to check on my mail. I've been using Yahoo!'s e-mail service so first thing I saw after the What's New tab has loaded is a news article that reported about a thousand bodies washed up on Japanese shores. Grim. Staggering. I just can't imagine that happening flipside. Sure Frank killed more than a hundred, Typhoon Ondoy up north murdered hundreds more; but a thousand is just a lot, and that's just like a tenth of all the dead.
Then there's the issue of a nuke reactor that blew up in Fukushima. The world is safe from it for now, but it has the potential. It can dangerously up the rads of the residents in its 12 km radius or spread radioactive clouds like Chernobyl once did which is quite unlikely. At this point though, anything can happen.
Anyway, if you're reading this blog, please do pray for Japan. Pray that the Japanese recover. At least that's what gaijin who aren't able to give concrete help like me can do. Pray for yourselves too, and for the world. God listens.
These times sure are uncertain.
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