Help the Flooded South
This past week, one event after another, the world seems in turmoil in Asia. Japan is still suffering from the Tsunami and nuclear disaster and now Thailand has its own problems. Last week, torrential rain caused mudslides, high waves and flooded many parts of the south. Everything was disrupted.
It wasn't just the usual flooding that usually accompanies the rain. This time it rained so hard that water gushed down from the mountains with such a force that it tore down houses and buried villages in mud. Villages and families have been left homeless and there are still many missing. Houses were flooded to the second level and people were left waiting on the roof for help. The navy had to send down large ships to help people evacuate but even then the waves seemed too deadly to pass. Not all could be evacuated. Helicopters too transported people to areas of safety. Homes and vilages had been buried under mud. I suppose this is nature's way of reclaiming their land.
Yesterday on television I heard a story of how a group of people had escaped their flooded homes to higher grounds only to find themselves faced with a river of water that seemed as if it were ready to engulf them all. Fortunately for them, a group of large trees caused the river of water to separate into two streams and kept the land where they stood safe. Who knows what could have happened. These people said they had been ready to die. Who would have imagined that the water would suddenly split into two streams? They were lucky to survive, but now they and tens of thousands of people are left homeless and without food in the South of Thailand.
Stranded on islands of higher ground, roads cut off from transportation, these people are not having a good life. Without electricity, without telephone lines it is as if they are in another world where you have to use your survival skills. Deep in mud that sucks you down, it's not easy to rescue people. What's buried will probably remain buried until future generations of archeologists dig them up.
Somehow floods don't seem to gather as much aid money as other events, but it is just as devastating. Water bourne diseases are bound to follow. So now that we've prayed for Japan lets also pray for Thailand's southern provinces. Let's pray no such disaster happens again and that all we will be able to recover from this string of disasters.
It wasn't just the usual flooding that usually accompanies the rain. This time it rained so hard that water gushed down from the mountains with such a force that it tore down houses and buried villages in mud. Villages and families have been left homeless and there are still many missing. Houses were flooded to the second level and people were left waiting on the roof for help. The navy had to send down large ships to help people evacuate but even then the waves seemed too deadly to pass. Not all could be evacuated. Helicopters too transported people to areas of safety. Homes and vilages had been buried under mud. I suppose this is nature's way of reclaiming their land.
Yesterday on television I heard a story of how a group of people had escaped their flooded homes to higher grounds only to find themselves faced with a river of water that seemed as if it were ready to engulf them all. Fortunately for them, a group of large trees caused the river of water to separate into two streams and kept the land where they stood safe. Who knows what could have happened. These people said they had been ready to die. Who would have imagined that the water would suddenly split into two streams? They were lucky to survive, but now they and tens of thousands of people are left homeless and without food in the South of Thailand.
Stranded on islands of higher ground, roads cut off from transportation, these people are not having a good life. Without electricity, without telephone lines it is as if they are in another world where you have to use your survival skills. Deep in mud that sucks you down, it's not easy to rescue people. What's buried will probably remain buried until future generations of archeologists dig them up.
Somehow floods don't seem to gather as much aid money as other events, but it is just as devastating. Water bourne diseases are bound to follow. So now that we've prayed for Japan lets also pray for Thailand's southern provinces. Let's pray no such disaster happens again and that all we will be able to recover from this string of disasters.
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