Prayers to Earthquake-striken People in Jiuzhaigou County

Posted on August 9,2017

Hi, everyone,

Two powerful earthquakes have struck China, the first was in Jiuzhaigou(in the southwestern Sichuan province) hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake at 9:19 pm. on Tuesday, the epicenter was at a depth of 20 kilometers in Jiuzhaigou, as of Wednesday, 13:10 pm., 19 killed-including 5 tourists, 247 injured-including 40 seriously. The second took place this morning(7:27 am) in the northwestern Xinjiang province, measuring 6.6 in magnitude.

Natural disasters are more terrifying than anything man can create, fires, floods, hurricans, earthquakes, tornadoes, anyone who has experienced them has a profound respect for the force of nature.

They are heartbroken over it, as we are for them who suffer damage in the earthquake. And my heart aches for everyone’s losses.

There will be blessings here, lives changed, good things that come after bad, which is often the way life works. No one expected a earthquake of this magnitude in Jiuzhaigou or other places it affected.

And the restoration process will be long, not only structurally, but in the hearts of those who lost so much, or lost people they loved. This is a deep wound that will take a long time to heal, individually and collectively.

We are so horrified, and grief striken for the people who lost homes, belongings, all their wordly possessions, or worse, loved ones.

We have all seen the stories on the news, the rescue of their patients, as nurse carried babies from the Newborn ICU down many flights of stairs, operating manually operated respirators, streets and neighborhoods disappearing, car swept down flooded streets, houses disappearing, people being rescued.

I am reminded of many things. I know that bad things do happen.

Until tragedy stikes you personally, you/we always feel that things will turn out okay. Once you have to come face to face with tragedy, you know that that’s not always the case.

Most of time, when the phone rings, my heart stops for an instant, teffified of what I might hear. Once you know the worst can happen, it changes your life forever.

You no longer have that carefree confidence that nothing bad will real happen. Sometimes it does. And the knowledge of that alters our lives forevermore.

The earthquake is that way too. If the worst can happen－could it happen again? We all know that it could.

This reminds me too of the aftermath of the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, when our lives were forever changed, travel is complicated and unnerving now, we will never again feel completely secure on our own turf or in the air.

People who survived in the Wenchuan earthquake know now that their homes are not completely safe, and they are not entirely safe from natural disaster.

The brutal effects of the earthquake are still being felt, and will be for a long time.

The people in the affected areas, and victims of those catastrophes are living with the fallout of the disaster for years. Lives lost, homes destroyed, whole neighborhoods impacted, and that won’t recover for a long, long time.

For them the disaster is still their main and only focus. And how to comfort them from their tragic loss? They lost their home and everything they own. The tragedy is still very much alive for those who went through it.

Possessions can be replaced, but treasured sentimental objects are sad losses, and the homes are where we all like to believe that we are safe, it is terrifying to realize that we are not safe in the face of natural disasters.

My heart goes out to all of those who were touched by the earthquake.

Our deep sympathy and compassion to everyone affected by the earthquake.

Our love and prayers are with you.

Let us hope that another disaster like this doesn’t happen again.

And let us hope that the wounds, both emotional and material, heal as quickly as possible.

Love,

Liu