Praying for Japan

How do I begin-

In the afternoon of August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.

This came after atomic bombs were dropped, on August 6th in Hiroshima and on August 9th in Nagasaki.

Until now, I could not believe there could be a worse week in Japan. Two nuclear disaster zones, horrendous loss of life.

On Friday, March 12, 2011, the island nation was hit, first by an earthquake of 8.9 and then by tsunami waves. Now as it deals with those double disasters and death tolls mount, the Japanese people are without water and power in many of the stricken areas.

And their nuclear power plants may add another risk to the population

"Let me say that the possibility that the development of this accident into one like Chernobyl is very unlikely," Yukiya Amano told a news conference at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

I wonder how he can be so sure...

I am praying for God's mercy on this stricken nation.

Haiti and the Israeli Field Hospital

Yitshak Kreiss, M.D., M.H.A., M.P.A, was the commander of the Israeli Defense Force field hospital in Haiti. In ten days of operation, his team treated over 1100 patients. By the time they left, other facilities were up and running, able to take over.

Today I heard Mitchell Schwaber, M.D. describe the time they spent in Haiti after the earthquake on December 12 that killed over 200,000. 86 hours after the earthquake, the hospital was up and running. Each patient had an electronic medical record with their photo.

The Israelis were joined in their efforts by Canadian nurses and Columbian surgeons. They used Moroccan casting material and Haitian-made orthopedic screws. They preformed lab tests, x-rays, surgery and delivered babies. They had an ethics panel to make the hard choices necessary in a disaster

After surgery, doctors worked the phones to make miracles happen. Their patients were transferred for additional care to a US surgical ship and hospitals in Miami and New York. Patients that were well enough went home.

All the care was free. In Haiti, where poverty was overwhelming, individuals received amazing, life saving care, regardless of the ability to pay.

Dr. Kreiss, on the day they were leaving, told his team, “Hope is the antidote to the despair of disaster” These amazing men and women gave the people of Haiti hope.

I for one am grateful.