A major earthquake, 8.8 on the Richter scale, hit Chile early this morning. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, “powerful aftershocks rattled Chile’s coast – 29 of them magnitude 5 or greater and one reaching magnitude 6.9.”

That’s crazy. And horrible. The effects were felt as far away as Buenos Aires, Argentina, and over 50 nations near the Pacific are in danger of a tsunami. It blows my mind how an earthquake in Chile can potentially cause after-effects all over the world. Isn’t it interesting how quickly natural disasters remind us how closely we’re connected to the natural world and to each other?