the corner office

I've just read that the death toll from Sunday's earthquake could be as high as 100,000. The disease-related deaths that will follow might double that number. It's hard to wrap one's mind around it. Ronwen and I were discussing earlier, why it is that we're so horrified by this, while many other humanitarian tragedies in the past year or two haven't affected us as deeply. I think it's perhaps because unlike Iraq, Sudan, or elsewhere, this is something that humans were incapable of stopping. That sounds counter-intuitive, but this wasn't human folly, something where we feel safe because the countries we live in are protected from war or unrest or famine. This was just nature, cruel and indifferent, reminding us that the same earth which sustains life can take it away just as easily. We tend to view ourselves as masters of this planet, and it is humbling, and terrifying, to be reminded that we're not, really.

Cynicism aside though, it is an awful catastrophe, and the loss and suffering are real, irrespective of why or how much the rest of the world is moved by it. That we are moved by it, is all that matters.