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Picture taken by my friend Cyndi Leos....thank you Cyndi.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Unfathomable Devastation and Tragedy...


picture from Yahoo news

Only by a change in destiny, any one of us may have been in Japan.
Disasters like this, haunt me and affect me profoundly.
Empathy for the images and shaken, emotional voices,
reach inside my soul, gripping me in a vice of sadness.

Japan has now upgraded the magnitude of the earthquake to 9.0
US still records 8.9
A shaking so strong, it ruptured the earth's crust 150 miles long and 50 miles wide.
It moved Japan 8 feet to the East.

Japan had 30 minutes after this horrendous shake
Before freezing, speeding waters, crushing, 30 foot waves engulfed and demolished so many Japanese cities...
Racing, filthy water, filled with planes, ships, cars, homes, debris and battered bodies, flooded 6 miles inland before settling into a muggy swamp of twisted chaos.

As if it weren't tragic enough...
Now we hear of a possible nuclear catastrophe

Police reported 200-300 bodies were found along the coast of  Sendai, a town in the eye of the quakes epicenter...
A nearby coastal town of Minamisanriku, just two miles from the sea, with a population of 17,000 and over 9.500 people are missing.
Many are believed to be buried in the debris or carried out to sea...

Imagine having your home and car washed away...
No clothes but what you were wearing, which is most likely dirty, wet and torn.
No food.  No water.
Quite possibly, not knowing the whereabouts of your spouse, children, other family, friends and pets...
Continuous after shocks.  So far, over 160. Many measuring over 6.0,
Tsunami warning sirens still sounding.
Where to go?
How do you find higher ground in all this devastation?.

Or being trapped, unable to leave where you are due to all the water surrounding your escape?
Think of the Injured...
No doubt many in shock, overwhelmed with the unfathomable devastation and tragedy...

Regardless of life times of earthquake education,
how do you prepare for the one of such magnitude?
Unable to confirm anything...
The earth still shaking...
Questioning if "this is it?"
Homeless and hearing sirens.
Absolute bone chilling panic, fearing another tsunami is coming...

I cannot even imagine the overwhelming, stark reality of this disaster
I am just sick and crushed with a myriad of thought...

~dkb~

10 comments:

Lisa Jacques Elam said...

I am right there with you! BTW....beautiful painting! You are very talented!

Sultan said...

Grim, grim, grim.

Jeanie said...

Donna, this is a beautiful expression of the emotion we are all feeling about the tragedy in Japan.
"I cannot even imagine the overwhelming, stark reality of this disaster"....that so well expresses what is in my head and heart.

DJan said...

I agree, Donna. It is unfathomable what they are going through. And of course since we are all connected, we are going through it too. I live in an earthquake zone and it could be us one day... my prayers are going out to them.

The Words Crafter said...

I watched a video where the tsunami came in. The devastation is beyond what my mind can comprehend.

Certainly, they are all in my thoughts and prayers.....

LindyLouMac said...

A very moving and well written precis of events.

betty said...

(what a great picture you pained, Donna; you are so talented!!)

you summed it up really well; we can't imagine what it is like to endure that, I feel sorry for them all but especially the little children and the older folks, how especially hard it must be for them. Always need to remember too that it can happen anywhere, here, where you are, etc with disasters like this or similar. That's why I keep saying it is so important to get the message out of Jesus to a world that needs to hear it because people's eternity are impacted when they least expect it.

betty

Gutsy Living said...

You captured the essence of what is happening and I myself question what is happening to humanity? We seem to be struck by so many disasters. How come?

Chatty Crone said...

I love your blog header by the way - LOVE IT.

And are right - this is just terrible. I toocan't even comprehend it all. Prayers to Japan and others.

Sandie

gayle said...

Beautiful painting!! What a talent you have!!

We are watching the coverage on Japan now. It is so tragic!!