I don't know.

In Sichuan, China, there are 71,ooo people confirmed dead from the earthquake on May 12. 5,000,000 remain homeless as well.

Or you can think about it like this:

The Vietnam war claimed the lives of 58,217 American soldiers.

58,217 killed in a war; 71,000 killed in an earthquake

5,000,000= two-thirds of the population of New York City.

Can you imagine two-thirds of NYC suddenly homeless??

My mom sends me updates from a Chinese adoption agency called "Half the Sky", & this is what their latest update entailed:

"At a shelter in Chengdu, one middle schooler who was evactuated from Wenchuan told our team:

'The first floor of the school disappeared. The second floor became the first floor. Our teachers were too busy ehlping us to have time for their own children. We carried two injured students from the collapsed building to a tent on a mountain top. We stayed in the mountains after that and lived on potatoes that weren't ripe and shared 2-3 bottles of water among more than 60 of us every day. Later, two students died in the tent. It rained and rained. We knew there could be landslides because we knew a big aftershock could happen at any time, but we didn't know what to fear anymore.'

At the Sichuan Children's Activity Center west of Chengdu, our team learned about a boy who feels guilty that he was not able to save the girl that sat next to him in class. When the building was about to collapse, the boy managed to run out of the building. Some of his classmates were not so lucky and he tried pulling his classmate whose leg was tck in the rubble. Unfortunately he did not succeed and the girl later died. Now he feels guilty that he could not save his friend and talks about it over and over..."

WHY?

71,000 people, dead! 71,000 families changed forever. Many parents losing their only child, many children losing their parents.....

My heart literally feels shattered.

Here's what brought the tears to my eyes though:

"A boy arrived at the institution with a bandage on one side of his head. The staff gave him a name and estimated that he is two years old. Every time the institution gate opens he runs to it and says 'baba,' 'mama,' the only words he knows. The expression of his face is one of sadness and fear without security. There was no smile on his face during the whole time we were here."

All this little boy wants is his baba & mama. And he's never going to see them again.

I urge you to read more at www.halfthesky.org