This is one of the hypothetical efects of global climate change, by the way. I'm not saying that this particular quake was triggered by the melting polar icecaps and the resulting crustal uplift, but the potential for just this sort of disaster is discussed, somewhat, in Worldwired.
It's terrifying to see what you've imagined.
I have to think back to World War II to find a referent for death on this scale. Dresden, Kiev, Hiroshima/Nagasaki--
It hurts to think about. The world is so very powerful, and we are so very frail. They say the death toll may rise to half a million; very roughly speaking, that's like somebody shot every third person in Las Vegas, every seventh person in Toronto, every twentieth person in New York. I've tried to describe carnage on this scale.
Now I'm observing it.
It's still impossible to comprehend.
And in the morning, we still have to get up and slop the pigs. And right now, there's a hell of a lot of pigs that need slopping.
Which leads me to some small personal good news, I suppose; the pig slopping, that is.
Also, I notice that
I'm glad I didn't kill that particular darling.
Not being
Instead, I want them not to come true.
In any case, my college friends (who will be celebrating the New Year in two short hours) and I have a sort of traditional New Year's toast, which I reproduce here, since I cannot be with them. Traditionally, the joke is that even years are worse than odd years.
We made it through--most of us!
It could have been worse--for most of us!
We'll get through the next one too--most of us!
Here's to 2004: Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way into history, bitch.