Kates Journal

The death toll keeps on rising; I actually wish I’d finished my training so I could go out and actually help these people. I mean, they need people with medical training; and I wish I could help. I can’t.

23,000 dead, current estimate. 23,000 people. 23,000 individual people with lives, with belongings, with families, with jobs. 23,000 people with thoughts, dreams and ideas all dead.

It is incredibly shocking.

Whole families destroyed. In that region it’s not uncommon for 2 or 3 generations of family to live in one house, it may be that entire branches of family trees have been obliterated in mere seconds, leaving nothing behind.

These are all relatively poor countries; how on Earth are they going to rebuild themselves? The destruction is so complete and total. Entire towns, cities, factories, farms, shops, all just gone.

I think we forget the awesome power of nature; we imagine we’ve tamed it, control it, we use the sunlight, the natural resources of this world; this Eden, and forget the power that resides in our environment that is beyond our control.

Tomorrow I go home, early, if the roads are clear enough. I spend a lot of time whinging about my house, but right at this moment, I’m incredibly lucky; I’ve got a house, belongings and a life. And I’m alive. 23,000 people aren’t alive anymore, and over a million people don’t have a home. Countless thousands have lost friends, families, relations. Be aware of what you have…