Death toll: 70,000, and rising

I'm trying to get a handle on this, and I can't.

The toll from the Indian Ocean earthquake is now at almost 75,000, and estimated to run over 90,000. 75,000 is about the population of the town I grew up in, when I lived there. Impossible to imagine everyone in that town, those I knew and all those tens of thousands I didn't, wiped out. The number is simply too large.

And then to know how many deaths could have been prevented. A tsunami only reaches so far inland. Warn the people, they can move out of the way, unlike a hurricane, which cuts a huge swath and travels well inland.

This is horror piled on tragedy undergirded by nightmare. Simply beyond comprehension.

And the deaths from disease that will follow.....

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God...so we can help in this time when help is needed. So we can show compassion in this time when compassion is needed. So we can be servants, in this time when we remember: Christ is born.

Give us strength, O Lord. And let our cry come unto thee....