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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Social impact of disasters > General
From award-winning ABC News Chief National Correspondent Matt
Gutman, and written using exclusive interviews and information
comes the definitive account of the dramatic story that gripped the
world: the miracle rescue of twelve boys and their soccer coach
trapped in a flooded cave miles underground for nearly three
weeks--a pulse-pounding page-turner by a reporter who was there
every step of their journey out. After a practice in June 2018, a
Thai soccer coach took a dozen of his young players to explore a
famous but flood-prone cave. It was one of the boys' birthday, but
neither he nor the dozen resurfaced. Worried parents and rescuers
flocked to the mouth of a cave that seemed to have swallowed the
boys without a trace. Ranging in age from eleven to sixteen, the
boys were all members of the Wild Boars soccer team. When water
unexpectedly inundated the cave, blocking their escape, they
retreated deeper inside, taking shelter in a side cavern. While the
world feared them dead, the thirteen young souls survived by
licking the condensation off the cave's walls, meditating, and
huddling together for warmth. In this thrilling account, ABC News
Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman recounts this amazing
story in depth and from every angle, exploring their time in the
cave, the failed plans and human mistakes that nearly doomed them,
and the daring mission that ultimately saved them. Gutman
introduces the elite team of volunteer divers who risked death to
execute a plan so risky that its American planners admitted, "for
us, success would have meant getting just one boy out alive." He
takes you inside the meetings where life and death decisions were
grimly made and describes how these heroes pulled off an improbable
rescue under immense pressure, with the boys' desperate parents and
the entire world watching. One of the largest rescues in history
was in doubt until the very last moment. Matt Gutman covered the
story intensively, went deep inside the caves himself, and
interviewed dozens of rescuers, experts and eye-witnessed around
the world. The result is this pulse-pounding page-turner that
vividly recreates this extraordinary event in all its
intensity--and documents the ingenuity and sacrifice it took to
succeed.
Anne Biccard has worked as an emergency doctor in Johannesburg for more than 30 years. It is a job that is both terrifying and thrilling, where death can be outwitted by skill and quick thinking, and the pressure eased by dark humour. The coronavirus, however, has added another dimension of fear.
In this heartwarming and at times hilarious memoir she recounts some of the cases that have burst in through her doors, such as the woman who mistook her Dettol for beer and the man who tried to run down his cardiologist. There is sadness, too, as she remembers the patients who didn't make it.
Above all, she writes of the camaraderie and dogged determination of health workers holding fast in the face of the Covid-19 nightmare as they battle, every day, to save a stranger's life.
In the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, the local
parish church became a focal point of the relief effort, and a
gathering place for a traumatised community. In the months that
followed, it worked closely with other community and faith groups
to provide a compassionate network of support. In this bold and
prophetic challenge, Alan Everett shows that the church's response
was possible only because it had opened its doors long ago,
building relationships with the most marginalised in the community.
Its effectiveness was born out of a patient, faithful, unheroic
ministry that is all too easily underestimated. Through gripping
reportage and searching theological reflection, After the Fire
demonstrates how parish ministry can be a living symbol of God's
love, and a vital sign of hope.
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