A Deadly Weekend

Four hundred people died in mass-casualty events over the weekend:

• 154 died in a stampede in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday night. Around 100,000 people were in the Itaewon district of the capital for the nation’s biggest Halloween party since the pandemic. Most of the deaths came as crowds tried to cram into a narrow alley. Authorities are still investigating the cause. Many of the victims were in their teens or 20s.
• 141 died as a footbridge collapsed in Gujarat in India on Sunday. The 230-meter suspension bridge was built in the 19th century; it reopened last week after being closed for renovations. Officials said it could not cope with the roughly 150 people who crowded over the bridge during Diwali festivities. Several children were among the dead.
• 98 died in the Philippines after Tropical Storm Nalgaw hit. Floods have forced around 2 million people to flee their homes. Over 4,000 houses have been destroyed and over 40,000 acres of rice lost. On the southern island of Mindanao, villagers fled from the sea, fearing flooding, only to be caught up in landslides in the hills. Typhoons are rare in this part of the Philippines. One 55-year-old told Deutsche Welle, “In my entire life living here, it’s the first time we experienced this kind of flooding.”

When such tragedies occur in Third World countries, they tend to be underreported by the media. Chapter 2 of our booklet Why ‘Natural’ Disasters? explains why a loving God allows these kinds of things to happen.