Disasters are not the hand of God striking down the sinful - neither is it Karma, Sharon Stone. People who think so are stupid, just plain stupid. So, Miss Stone, when Hollywood receives that 7.9 or 8.0 jolt that the scientists have been promising you for the last 20 years will that be God or karma?
Note : please watch embedded video is you do not understand why I am addressing Ms. Stone directly !

God, the Father,  who is pure love and kindness, is not a punishing God, He is merciful and kind. If you want to see God's tender love look to all the tragic pictures of parents carrying their child from the wreckage of their homes, dead. Look at the USA government just about begging Burma to allow us to help them, also... That is God's hand - weeping at the harm and death in Asia and here in America - world wide, in fact is God's way.

People who blame God or Mother Earth are Stupid, simply stupid. People like Stone deserve to go to the 8 th. level of hell saved for the chronically self-righteous, arrogant, smug fools that constantly see the sliver in their neighbor's eye but don't see the plank in their own.  If God or karma strikes down anyone in this planet for sin it should be Hollywood types like Ms. Stone and others of her kind who are smug buffoons of the most ridiculous kind. So why is your sinful town still prospering and rich - could it be that God is merciful and loving - a Father who does not punish? Could it be that the earth just lives by the natural laws of geology and has no will except for them, Ms. Stone?

Of all the things that drive me nuts, arrogant Hollywood types drive me the most over the edge. I just want to grab them by the lapels and tell them that they are merely brainless actors and that they should shut up and do their craft and leave serious things to serious people!

Earthquake, storms, volcanic disasters always strike at the humblest of people, first, and hardest - the humble can not get out of the way, the humble are just working, raising families, doing their duties. I despise the  Chinese communist government more than most. I despise communism as an aberration of real philosophy, but neither God nor karma (which is a natural law of the universe and not even God can really change!) misses the mark or strikes at the humble while leaving the great ones to say how-very-sorry- they are- that the earth quake struck... Both God's will and karma are not punishment as such, etc.
It does not surprise me that the Buddhists want to help. They know that hatred of your enemies is BAD KARMA - and, that their brothers and sisters, killed by the Chinese government are yet, living, yet, not here on Earth - that kind of goodness is something I can only dream about having in my soul - and, Hollywood types, Ms. Stone, included, actually can't even conceive of existing... that is why she was so confused.

Neither the Chinese earthquakes nor the Mt. St. Helens eruption, or Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD, nor the Katrina hurricane, or  the recent storms in the Mid-West nor the awful typhoon in Burma, etc, etc, etc are karma. NOW, what happens afterwards - our inability to really react properly to the hurricane might have been considered karmic because our reactions were directly tied to sowing and harvesting what we did in the past... but, even that, can be debated for a few centuries. Karma is infinitely complex and difficult to understand.

We human beings matter not to mother Earth. We are just her children - as much as the trees and the flowers - and, as such, she will dispose of us as she sees fit - she knows no cruelty - only necessity.  The laws of nature are such that we must sometimes die in natural disasters - if we live in an earthquake zone, as I do, I know that we could have mild ones (below 5.0)  for my entire lifetime - or a really big one could hit and I could die, struck down, lets say, by that bookcase to my right side, right this moment. No Chinese family, as humble as my own in many ways, (and, please note, they don't even get to have a say in the governing as we do, so they can't be blamed for what their government does!) are being punished with an earthquake. They are humble people - the salt of the earth, as Christ would say. They did not kill the monks of Tibet - the government of China, did.

 People who say  that natural disaster are punishment for sin are living in the dark ages of superstition whether they are Christian Popes, Muslim clerics - or, profoundly stupid actors and actresses living lives of sublime luxury in the richest city of North America. They should all be ashamed of themselves - it's a shame hell does not exist, people for you truly would be massively improved by going there for a few centuries !!!!!!

I know that I must feel sorry for them - but for once, the winter wind storm missed us and hit down south. I admit it - I am relieved. Usually that's the N.W. without electricity, etc, winds clocked at near hurricane... Well, guys be brave, we are rooting for you.

We have all been through power failures. Spent a chilly week one year, starting with the day after Christmas, not ending till N.Y.'s eve, the effects of an ice storm. But its no where this cold when bad things happen in the N.W.

Something to pray about... God, Europe is delicate compared the USA! We get 60 MPH winds, yeah, the electricity goes out but we don't flood - when the winds are 50 MPH we are relieved (last windstorm was like that.)! This is no hurricane but it sounds like it's going to be a nasty night in England & the Europe mainland.

There is a possibility of a windstorm here in the Northwest - these monsters are not that rare and their severity varies usually 40-75 mile-an-hour winds that sweep over the area for hours - what does not vary is the tendency to lose electrical service. They can be an immense bother that lasts all day or an immense bother that brings a power outage that lasts a week. I take them very seriously. We have gone as long as 10 days without electricity, though usually it is closer to 5 -7 days. I am not sure why this is so -Leon suggests its the fault of our humid, wet winter weather; our trees don't need deep roots so they tend to have shallow roots systems that do not hold well in the equally soaked soil - there are entire areas, not that far from here that tend towards becoming swamps or bogs every winter - some more look like shallow lakes than fields. I would add that this 'enlightened area' has never put its power, cable & telephone lines underground where they belong. I suppose they would say something about earthquakes but I think keeping the power on during windstorms and ice storms (which happen relatively often.) is a greater advantage then any trouble causes with broken underground lines during earthquakes.
These storms remind me of the Nor'easters that hit southern Virgina in the winter months. - I am only a little less afraid of them than I would be a full scale hurricane.
I am doing the 'windstorm dance' - all clothes washed, some ironing done for extra clothing, putting the bird feeders and wind chimes in safe places - checking food supplies so that I have something to cook on the wood stove that takes a very short time and finally recharging all battery telephones and lamps.
Explains what a Nor-Easter is and a some recent examples.
An even better explanation.
A NOAA pamphlet with some suggestions about N.W. Windstorms and how to survive.
The weather advisory for Western Washington.
WELL, needless to say, I have some work to do.. I don't think this windstorm is going to be that serious but we have already had one threatened that threatened our area but did not hit us - two misses in the same year is too much to expect.
I do not mind preparing - it is worth it.
And, yes, we already have a decent wood stove and enough wood to keep the house heated during our most active hours - I do not mind a cool house at night, in fact, I prefer it.
The only thing we really fear is the 40 ft. tree in the back yard... its not on our land but I don't think IT knows that... we have talked to our new neighbor and he has spoken about cutting it down and we even offered to help pay for the service - that thing land on our house and we would have a real mess on our hands. (Once a mere branch fell during an ice storm and when it hit the ground the entire house shook. I don't think the 6.7 earthquake rattled my nerves more!)
Storms are easier to put up with - and even survive if you Prepare.