Natural Disasters

In recent statements, “the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church said… the world is on the brink of slipping into ‘the abyss of the end of history’” (Newsweek, November 21, 2017). He continued by warning his congregants that the coming end of the age—the apocalypse—is currently “visible to the naked eye.” However, this Russian cleric is not alone in his dire predictions.

Wildfires and arson-set fires are burning out of control in northwest Spain and Portugal, fueled by dry conditions and strong winds from Hurricane Ophelia (Deutsche Welle, October 16, 2017). More than 30 deaths have been caused by over a dozen fires, and more than 5,000 firefighters are working to contain the blazes. These fires follow on the heels of the deadliest fire in Portugal’s history, which occurred in June.

In the past few weeks, thousands around the globe have been traumatized by powerful hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific that have caused tremendous devastation and suffering.

Last week an 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of southern Mexico, killing at least 90 and destroying thousands of homes—filling streets with crowds of mourners (Aljazeera, September 10, 2017; The Guardian, September 8, 2017).

Rivers in Britain are drying up and threatening trout and waterfowl populations, thanks to an unusually dry winter and spring (The Telegraph, May 8, 2017). On the other side of the pond in Montreal, rain and snowmelt are causing devastating floods. Thousands have been evacuated from over 100 towns and cities (BBC, May 8, 2017).