Earthquake in Japan

[John of Japan]

Some of my BB friends have been asking if we were affected by the huge earthquake we just had yesterday here in Japan, so I thought I would start a thread to inform folks.

Since we live in the central region of the northernmost island of Hokkaido and the earthquake was down on the main island of Honshu, we did not feel it. However, we do have missionary friends who were close enough to the epicenter to feel it at about a 4 on the Richter scale. That would be scary but without much damage at all.

As near as I can tell, there are no missionaries in the area close to the epicenter. However, there are certainly Japanese believers there, so you might want to say a prayer for anyone affected by the earthquake.

When we lived down in the Kanto Plain (Saitama Prefecture, then Yokohama) we often felt earthquakes up to a strength of 5, but we were never in a major one. (Typhoons, now, those are a lot of fun. ) In our current town of Asahikawa, Hokkaido, we never feel earthquakes. We're more likely to get two feet of snow! However, we do have a live volcano I can look at from my office at the church and watch the smoke curl out of it. If you ever hear about a volcano erupting near Asahikawa, pray for us then! :type:

 

[Hope of Glory]

Looks like there were at least two that were over a 6, one a 6.6 and one a 6.8. That'll get you to rockin' and rollin' pretty good! How are the populated areas in Japan prepared for big ones?

 

[mnw]

What's the news on the nuke energy plant? I thought I saw on the news that something was leaking.

 

[Su Wei]

I thought of you, JoJ, when I watched the news about a hurricane?
I pray everything is ok?

 

[John of Japan]

Looks like there were at least two that were over a 6, one a 6.6 and one a 6.8. That'll get you to rockin' and rollin' pretty good! How are the populated areas in Japan prepared for big ones?

Well, they think they are prepared. However, remember that big San Francisco earthquake when the freeways collapsed? Japanese news commentators said, "Our highways would never collapse." But in the Great Kobe earthquake, they collapsed!

 

[John of Japan]

I thought of you, JoJ, when I watched the news about a hurricane?
I pray everything is ok?

Praise the Lord, the typhoon died before reaching our island! Thanks for the prayers.

 

[John of Japan]

What's the news on the nuke energy plant? I thought I saw on the news that something was leaking.

Last I saw there was a small, outlying building on fire, but Japanese news has not had anything that I've seen about a nuclear leak. Whew, praise the Lord for that! All we need is a Japanese Chernobyl!

 

[Gwen]

Glad to hear you're OK, Bro. John. I'm sure many of us here of the BB thought of you when we heard the news report, and said a prayer for your safety!

 

[John of Japan]

Glad to hear you're OK, Bro. John. I'm sure many of us here of the BB thought of you when we heard the news report, and said a prayer for your safety!

Thanks so much, Gwen. :wavey:

I was just looking in my directory of all the missionaries in Japan, and finally found the city of Kashiwazaki, which was closest to the epicenter. I learned there are no Baptists there, but there are two Church of Christ missionary familes there. Though we would disagree strongly with their baptismal regeneration, yet we should still pray for them, amen?

In Kashiwazaki, so far nine have been confirmed dead, with 1000 injured and 9000 evacuated from their homes.

 

[TCGreek]

Thanks so much, Gwen. :wavey:

I was just looking in my directory of all the missionaries in Japan, and finally found the city of Kashiwazaki, which was closest to the epicenter. I learned there are no Baptists there, but there are two Church of Christ missionary familes there. Though we would disagree strongly with their baptismal regeneration, yet we should still pray for them, amen?

In Kashiwazaki, so far nine have been confirmed dead, with 1000 injured and 9000 evacuated from their homes.

Thanks John, for raising our attention to this serious issue. We all have a heart for missionaries. We too will be praying. God bless.

 

[John of Japan]

Thanks John, for raising our attention to this serious issue. We all have a heart for missionaries. We too will be praying. God bless.

Great, TC. God bless.

 

[John of Japan]

Here is some news I got today from JEMA (Japan Evangelical Missionary Association) about what is going on after the earthquake.


"Jonathan Wilson of CRASH sends the following report from the relief work going on in Niigata:

"One morning we experienced a large aftershock of 4.8 magnitude, but it caused no damage and everyone is fine. We are very thankful for the wonderful cooperation between Christian volunteers here in Niigata. Yesterday the work continued here at the camp to brace and support buildings so that they can be used to house volunteers.

"Meanwhile three more teams concentrated on providing large storage units for both the Holiness church and the Mort missionary family. Much debris at the Holiness church first had to be cleared away before the storage unit could be built. Pastor Matsumoto (Holiness Denomination) led a team of youth from Christian Academy in Japan in this task while a second team went to pick up the storage unit in Nagaoka with a 3-ton truck brought by the team from Shimonita Christ Church in Gunma. Meanwhile a second unit was being constructed by a third team back up at the campground for the Morts.

"In the afternoon, while construction continued on the storage units, the youth took care of the Mort children. A team from Kyoto joined the youth to hand out candies and Post Traumatic Stress pamphlets to families in the area and play with local children.

"Today, the work shifts to moving recovered items from the damaged buildings into the storage units at both locations. Also the work on the campground buildings and care work with children in Kashiwazaki continues."