Very well said Flash. EL`s picture link definitely helped put it in perspective (if one really can get perspective on a tragedy of this magnitude).

Read another great article this morning that helped put perspective on this by describing the quake`s affect of increasing the speed of rotation of the earth on its axis by 3 microseconds. The moon`s pull on our oceans is usually slowing us down just a bit. The subduction that occurred in this massive quake as part of the Indian tectonic plate dove under the Malaysian plate I finally realized was like what occurs when a figure skater pulls his or her arms in to their body while in a spin..they speed up.

The idea of an earthquake speeding up the earth`s rotation is mind-boggling and a little scary...

I think the world is still struggling to come to grips with the enormity of this tragedy and it`s outcome.