Moving on...

Today is 5/6, not even a month after the Korean ferry disaster on 4/16, and the news coverage has diminished.  (Flight 370 has also left the spot light.) Perhaps it is fitting that we need to move on.  But if God is listening today, please take those innocent souls to a better place and give the families peace. 

Nearly 130 divers are still combing the wreckage trying to give closure to the families of 35 people still unaccounted for.  One of these brave, compassionate souls died over the weekend.  May he be remembered as a hero doing the right thing even when hope is gone.

Updates on 5/8.  Investigations showed that the ferry was overloaded with twice as much cargo, which was probably not properly secured.  A shifting load on a moving vessel is likely reason for the ship to list (Myth Busters had an episode on this).  The Korean government moved quickly to revoked the shipping company's license and arrest the CEO.  It was oddly reassuring.  We all need someone to blame when bad things happen.  I wonder if finding the root cause changes anything for the victims' families.  Nothing will bring back the lives lost.  But will they feel better to yell at someone?  Can they channel their anger to positive changes?

The Swiss cheese model says that an incident happens only if multiple safeguards fail simultaneously, engineering solutions, administrative control, human protection.  That is certainly the case here.  If the ship was designed to hold more cargo, if the scheduler paid attention to the weight of cargo being booked, if the workers are better trained to secure the cargo, if the captain made better decisions or was better trained.  For so many things to go wrong, there must have been something seriously broken in the corporate culture.  Swift justice in this case seems more than justified.  If it seems like a case of guilty until proven innocent, so be it.  Some people do not deserve the benefit of doubt.