COVID-19 is a Slow Tsunami
In January 2005, my wife and I were on a warm beach off the west coast of Thailand. It was not a vacation. We had recently landed in Thailand to begin a two-year mission working with local churches. Like everyone else, we were caught up in the recovery effort following the Boxing Day Tsunami that killed over 220,000 people and decimated parts of South and Southeast Asia. While we only helped on the coast for one week, our friends were engaged there for months. They were tireless and strong as they helped communities rebuild. It was grueling work.
The Boxing Day Tsunami occurred on December 26, 2004 and was caused by a 9.0 earthquake that lasted 10 minutes, deep in the Indian Ocean. The waves caused from the quake hit Banda Aceh, Indonesia within 20 minutes and towered up to 100 feet. Within a few hours, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, India and even some countries in East Africa had been hit. The humanitarian relief response was overwhelming as well, marshaling $14 Billion USD to support the recovery.
Today we are facing a new disaster, one that is much more illusive than a tsunami but equally deadly. At the time of this blog, Johns Hopkins is reporting almost 100,000 deaths globally from COVID-19. It causes me to ask, "What if the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 had hit my home country first, before impacting Asia?" How would the global humanitarian response had been different if ALL countries had been impacted by that tsunami? That's what the COVID pandemic is like. It is washing across all of us and we have to consider our own families and the lives of our global neighbors at the same time.
As tempting as it may be to isolate and simply lament our situation in the States (and it is worthy of lament), let me challenge you instead. Now IS the time to prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 impact on our global neighbors, especially the vulnerable and displaced. The wave continues to progress and is now impacting Latin America and Southeast Asia in significant numbers. This post, by Peter Greer, describes what an outbreak in the context of extreme poverty could look like. Unlike the 2004 tsunami, however, we must be ready to work both at home and with our global neighbors. It reminds me of the situation described in Nehemiah. The workers rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem carried building materials in one hand and a sword in the other, ready to defend themselves as needed. We have to take great care to protect ourselves while being courageous to help the most vulnerable.
I'm seeing organizations and the church mobilize to address this global tsunami. Organizations like World Vision and American Leprosy Missions are doing exemplary work. The Humanitarian Disaster Institute is equipping local churches to respond well to the crisis. I encourage you to get involved too in any way you can. May the Lord protect you and your family and our global neighbors as we face this crisis together.