the boat

I think it is safe to assume that international news has covered the container ship that is wrecked off the coast of New Zealand. What you may not know is that we can see it from the beaches that border our neighborhood. Rich and I walked over and took some photos this afternoon. Because it was hazy today, it was a bit hard to clearly capture the boat in the photos we took, so I placed a red line through the ship in the photo above and drew a red oval over the ship in the photo below. Earlier in the week we had hiked Papamoa Hill on a clear day and the ship was far more visible. 

It's an enormous deal here - obviously. Oil is washing up on the shores and the beaches of our town and neighboring towns are all closed. Military vehicles line the streets near the beach and volunteers cover the shores. A very loud helicopter flies back and forth over our house all day transporting materials from the stranded ship to the nearby harbor. Summer is fast approaching and if the situation worsens it will have an enormous impact on many facets of life here. Rich told me last night that there is even an emergency evacuation plan being formulated for our area, although I am not quite clear on why that might be necessary. There is a lot of anger - rightfully so - and also sadness and fear - and dismay and shock.... Please join us in praying that worse catastrophe can be avoided and that the Lord will draw some good out of this, as only He can. 

signs posted near every beach entry point

military vehicles parked along beach roads

army personnel man roads to the waterfront

volunteers working to clean up oil