Information Related to "Why Does God Allow Disasters?"
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A youth of 9 named Muklis sat talking about the tsunami that swept his father and mother into the sea. He had vainly attempted to save his father. He later found his mother dead after the waters receded. Although both his parents perished, his 6-year-old sister Siti escaped harm.
Thousands of children like them in Indonesia and other Asian nations have been orphaned by these waves of destruction. What is to happen to them? Who will raise these children to adulthood? Will life here ever be close to normal again?
Nothing like it
No one had seen anything like it. Colin Powell, then U.S. secretary of state, had witnessed the worst of natural disasters and war, but said he had seen nothing to compare to this. The tsunami killed outright more than 280,000 people living in a dozen nations around the Indian Ocean and many others visiting the area from 36 nations. Still more died in the aftermath.
The grief is incomprehensible. In the immediate aftermath, one doctor saw inconsolable grief, ranging from hysteria and stupor to catatonia. It was simply too much for the mind to grasp. One woman who lost her entire family said she wished she had died in the tsunami too.
The stories go on and on. The numbers give staggering scope to this tragedy, but behind each number is mind-numbing grief for the survivors. Some will never recover from the effects.
Somehow such a mammoth event just doesn't fit into our version of life, our worldview. We desire a secure and safe life, but when death strikes in such proportions to an unsuspecting part of the human race, with what seems to be such callous disregard to young and old alike, we are nagged with questions that undermine our confidence in our world.
Related Information on UCG Sites:
Sidebar: Are the Thousands Who Perished in the Tsunami Lost Forever?
Sidebar: Wars: The Chief Man-made Disaster
Table of Contents that includes "Why Does God Allow Disasters?"
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