the waves of poverty was the first wave of disaster to hit this area of the world. i had mentioned that the tsunami was a catastrophe of epic proportions. and it wasn't similar to a hurricane that came through bashed on some $300,000 homes. this was is all the more catastrophic because of the poverty. as highlighted by part of the umc's delegation for relief. poverty breeds so much of the things that are wrong in our world. our church needs to recognize this as an instance where poverty doesn't bring about starvation but life hazards that are unknown to the people who are prone to them.
"A lot of poor people were forced to live as squatters near the water because there was no other place for them," Day said Jan. 14. "Folks are saying the tsunami was the first wave, and then the potential outbreak of disease is the second wave, but I think it was preceded by the wave of poverty.
"If we look at this right and we work with other NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) and we really have a clear vision, then I think there doesn’t need to be a wave of poverty coming after all this," he said.
Poverty forces people to live in "terrible conditions, much, much too close to the water in many parts of the world, and we can’t be blind to that," he said. "The church has a paramount duty to lift that up and be concerned about it because that poverty literally killed a lot of people. I don’t think the fatalities would have to be nearly as high if people were not living that close to the water."