I can post directly to this blog from my mobile, which is immensely cool. Those of you who know me are well aware that I'm a massive fan of small, agile, mobile technology. I actually rarely work on a "computer" - I kind of think that the day of "personal computing" (which I'll define here as someone sitting at a desk with a desktop or notebook computer) is soon to pass. Being able to be on the move, in an out of the office, in and out of a variety of countries, is what it's all about.
So, a little background. Here is a general view of the earthquake zone:
An earthquake in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province (which was the epicentre) isn't a huge surprise. Sichuan Province is one of China’s more earthquake-prone areas. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has a map showing natural disaster risk in China, which I've pasted below. Chengdu is right on the edge for degree seven earthquakes. The British Geological Survey gives Chengdu a rating of 6 out of 10 for earthquake risk. Beijing, where I'm heading, is rated at 7, while Shanghai comes in at 2.
I'm dealing with certain realities as I depart for this trip. Perhpas the most troubling is that the death toll may reach close to 80,000 before I return to Canada. The reality is that there are over 50,000 confirmed dead but the wild card is that 24,000 are still listed as "missing." I reason that, conservatively, 95 percent of the missing are dead, which is a rational but very depressing thought.
The post-earthquake images have been overwheming, both in the quality of images available on TV and over the Internet, but also in their intensity. Two images particularly resonated with me over these past difficult days.
The first is of a young woman being pulled from the rubble amost immediately after the earthquake. I think what moved me about this picture was, first, the fact that she survived, but also the prevailing sense of shock, as in "There's NO WAY that this just happened..." Here it is...
Then, in last Sunday's New York Times there was an image that moved me equally but because of its sense of calm, of a a resigned mourning. It is a picture of a family burning incense for relatives who were killed in the disaster.
I'm a pretty voracious reader. Honestly, I don't read novels anymore - I am ashamed to admit that my days of novel reading and novel writing were pretty much burned to embers when I left teaching. However, I read a LOT of nonfiction, magazines, newspapers from all over the world and in several languages (wow - that sounded very pseudo-intellectual...I meant that if I understand that language, I'd rather read the news from that country in the native language) biographies, every decent business book out there (thank you, Kellogg, for instilling this in me) and tons of blogs. Were blogs carbs I'd weigh about 600 kilos.
A blog entry that really moved me in the days after the earthquake is from the zoecarnate blog and can be read here http://zoecarnate.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/disaster-interconnectivity-action-contemplation/
It's actually far too "religious" for my taste but I greatly appreciate its spiritual perspective. There is a bit of a good/evil dynamic tension involved in any disaster - the sense of the inexplicable, the impercetible. Then, what should follow is compassion and sensitivity and, as zoecarnate writes, a weight of the "shalom on earth," which I truly sense is beginning to emerge.
Well, much laundry and packing to do. I'm bringing many empty hockey-type massive duffel bags to be used in the relief effort and only a small carry-on for me. Feels very weird to leave the suits and dress shirts and ties at home when I leave Canada, though I'm not complaining about a few days of jeans, t-shirts and my beloved Nike Air Max '95s....
I'll leave you with some contact information for the Red Cross in China. This was my first contribution, the day of the disaster. You'll find someone who speaks English if you call or, of course, you can donate through the Red Cross in your home country.
