Sunday, October 23, 2011

Earthquake in Turkey: A Prayer Request; and Getting a Grip

One of the prayer intentions at Mass this morning was for folks affected by last night's earthquake in Turkey.

I figured it couldn't hurt to pass that along, as a suggestion for prayer. No pressure, of course.

I put excerpts from the news at the end of this post.1

An Earthquake in Turkey: What are the Odds?

Here in central Minnesota, we have blizzards, tornadoes, and the occasional flood or drought. Florida has hurricanes. For folks in Turkey, it's earthquakes:
"...Turkey is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because it sits on major geological fault lines.

"Two earthquakes in 1999 with a magnitude of more than 7 killed almost 20,000 people in densely populated parts of the north-west of the country...."
(BBC News)

An Earthquake! This Means Something, Right?

I've mentioned the tower at Siloam before. (Luke 13:1-5) (April 28, 2011, March 15, 2011, February 24, 2011)

When a building falls on someone, I don't assume that the victim must have been a terrible sinner. I assume that a building fell on someone.

Which means that if the person is still alive, the victim needs help. If the person is dead, folks still need to recover the body. That's not just sentiment. If dead bodies aren't dealt with, they a way of causing health problems for survivors.

As for what God had in mind, in connection with that earthquake? I don't know. God is omniscient.2 I'm not. Not even close.

God, Disasters, and Common Sense

I'm certainly not going to claim that God killed dozens of folks because they don't live in places with nice, 'regular' names like Embarrass, Kiester, or Dinkytown. Or because their ancestors did something naughty.

I think that sort of 'wrath of a tardy God' thinking depends in part on a sort of selective amnesia. There wouldn't be many folks left, if God went around killing people whose ancestors weren't entirely proper.

Take my background, for example. About a thousand years back, half of my ancestors were involved in raiding the other half of my ancestors. Maybe you heard of the Lindisfarne incident. Then there's practicing human sacrifice.3 We don't do that sort of thing now, by the way, and haven't for some time.

And that's another topic. Topics.

Somewhat-related posts:
In the news:

1 Excerpts from the news:
"BBC reporter David O'Byrne: 'There are people trapped under the rubble'

"A 7.2-magnitude earthquake has hit eastern Turkey, killing at least 45 people in one town alone as buildings collapsed, Turkish media say.

"The quake struck near the city of Van, where Anatolia news agency said at least 50 people were injured...."
(BBC News)

"...At least seven aftershocks rattled the region, one of the nation's poorest. The extent of casualties was not immediately known.

"Some 25 apartment buildings and a student dormitory collapsed in the town of Ercis on the north shore of Lake Van, the Turkish Red Crescent said.

"Local rescuers took many wounded people out of the dormitory, the Red Crescent statement said, without saying exactly how many.

"A health services building also collapsed, along with part of a hospital, CNN sister network CNN Turk reported. At least two doctors were thought to be in the rubble of the health services building, the network said. The injured were being treated in the hospital's garden...."
(CNN)

"A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey, killing at least 75 people and sparking panic as it collapsed buildings into piles of twisted steel and chunks of concrete.

"Desperate survivors dug Sunday into the rubble with their bare hands, trying to rescue the trapped and injured.

"State-run TRT television reported that 59 people were killed and 150 injured in the eastern town of Ercis, and 15 others died in the provincial center of Van. Another person died in the nearby province of Bitlis...."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)
2 A little background on God, the Almighty, the Omniscient, source of all Truth:
3 Before missionaries started working on us, the natives of northwestern Europe were a colorful lot. Literally, in the case of the chaps who painted themselves blue on occasion. ("Woad in Britain from the Iron Age to Present," Mike Roberts (September, 2007)) More of my take on culture, the Church, and all that:

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Marian Apparition: Champion, Wisconsin

Background:Posts in this blog: In the news:

What's That Doing in a Nice Catholic Blog?

From time to time, a service that I use will display links to - odd - services and retailers.

I block a few of the more obvious dubious advertisers.

For example: psychic anything, numerology, mediums, and related practices are on the no-no list for Catholics. It has to do with the Church's stand on divination. I try to block those ads.

Sometime regrettable advertisements get through, anyway.

Bottom line? What that service displays reflects the local culture's norms, - not Catholic teaching.