Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Wretched Katrina

It's been hard for me to concentrate on anything over the past few days because of the hurricane that slammed Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. I feel extremely lucky that we lost power for only a few minutes; I have neighbors with trees in their yards and in one situation, on their house. By the time I went to bed last night, over 600,000 people in Alabama were in the dark.

But nothing compares to what's happening in Mississippi and New Orleans. Large swaths of coastal communities in Mississippi are nothing but rubble and matchsticks. In New Orleans, things are only getting worse by the minute as the levees fail and the water rises.

When this is over, we may be staggered by the loss of life. It will be hard to fathom, and for the people directly affected, very hard to overcome.

In days to come, there'll be time to glean lessons from what happened and what steps we need to take to make sure we lessen the loss of life next time. For today, however, I'll just encourage those of you who believe in the power of prayer to pray for those affected and those who will be affected in days to come. And for all of us who can, donations to organizations like the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross and other reputable agencies like Southern Baptist Disaster Relief or similar relief efforts are an excellent way to put a little muscle behind our concerns and good thoughts.

UPDATE:

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has compiled an excellent list of disaster relief organizations who could use your financial support.

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