Today's news story of a mud-slide that's struck an orphanage in Malaysia brings to mind the awful events of 1966 when heavy rains caused a coal mining slag heap to descend upon the village of Aberfan.
Back in October 1966, 144 people died, including 116 children, when the mud and slag hit Aberfan, destroying the village school and around 20 homes that were in its path. As a 13 year old at the time, I well remember the news coverage and also remember being horribly shocked; this was, I think, the first news story that really affected me. I'd been aware of the assassination of Kennedy in 1963, but that was something far away and didn't really register, other than that all the adults seemed terribly concerned. Aberfan, on the other hand, wasn't so far away and that so many children had died was much, much closer to home.
It seems that the Malaysian incident may end with as many as 20 deaths, which is sad and tragic for those involved, and for the families as far as they are known or alive, but it pales into insignificance besides that dreadful day in 1966.
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