Huge Earthquake in Japan

This afternoon we had a huge earthquake in Japan, the biggest ever recorded here at 8.8. Providentially the epicenter was about 50 miles offshore and not on land, but there is extensive damage in many areas of the country with dozens reported dead and dozens more injured so far. There will be many more.

When it happened I was at the church correcting our translation of the book of Jude with Uncle Miya, and Patty was at home. We felt the earthquake and I wondered at that because we never feel earthquakes in Asahikawa, since we are way inland on the northern island of Hokkaido. So I figured there must be a big one somewhere offshore. Sure enough, this earthquake was felt everywhere in Japan, from our northern island of Hokkaido all the way down to Okinawa.

Shortly after the earthquake Patty called from our 5th floor apartment to say she was feeling dizzy from the earthquake. I also got a call from our BWM missionary down in Nagoya, who said they were all right. All of our BWM missionaries in Japan are okay--four families and two single people. Two families are on furlough right now including our co-workers, who kindly called in the middle of their night to make sure we were okay.

Since Patty was okay, and there was nothing else we could do, Uncle Miya and I continued translating the book of Jude and then worked on his translation of a missionary's experiences when captured in the 1930s by the Communist Red Army in China during their "Long March."

There are still aftershocks from 3.0 up to 6.6 occurring, though we haven't felt any in our town. Tsunami warnings came immediately after the earthquake, and waves of up to 8 meters high have hit on the coast of the main island of Honshu, with warnings still being broadcast. Fortunately a warning was broadcast a half hour before the first tsunami hit, so people were able to flee to safety.

Fires have occurred in various cities, including a huge one at some kind of refinery in Chiba City. People have drowned in the various tsunami, died in landslides, been hit by falling debris, been burned in the fires, etc.

Right now the big danger is aftershocks and more tsunami. We've seen images of the first big tsunami on TV, with 100s of cars swept away, some houses swept away, 50 foot fishing boats being swept inland, etc. Also, we've seen images of the earthquake from various cities that are scary. All the trains are stopped in Tokyo and probably most of the Tohoku region north of there.

We have several friends we are worried about: Pastor Kosaki on the coast of Hokkaido, Pastor Tajima in Koriyama in Tohoku which was hit hard by the earthquake, Pastor Mita in the Tokyo area, Pastor Carter in the Tokyo area. Please pray for these families.

 

Thanks for the prayers, friends. All channels are giving the news, all bad. I hope I can check on my friends tomorrow. Also, a woman from our church moved down last fall to Miyagi Prefecture, which was in the hardest hit Tohoku area.

 

Thanks for the prayers to Rippon and annsni. I hope your friend's family is all right, Rippon.

We keep hearing more and more sad stories on the news: an old folks' home collapsed with dozens missing, whole villages washed away, many missing in various places. The death toll is close to 70 and still rising all the time, with more than that missing.

 

Thanks to Gwen and abcgrad94 for your prayers.

Joe Mita is a good friend going way back to college at TTU in the early '70's. His city is on the north side of Tokyo way away from the ocean, so he may have gotten shook up, but so far I've seen no bad reports on TV from his area.

 

It's Saturday morning in Japan.

To tinytim and anyone else who wants to link here, feel free to do so. I'll give occasional updates here from what we are hearing in Japan.

Thanks to all who are praying and have posted here with encouraging words. I feel myself near to tears all the time when I watch what is happening on TV. So much death, so many missing, so much damage it's hard to take in. But this country is so hard-hearted towards the Gospel, maybe this will open hearts to the Lord. Do you realize that Pakistan, home to many Islamic radical movements, has 2% Christians, but Japan only has 1%?

So much is going on it is hard to think what to write. I'm sure you've seen some on American TV. Rescue operations are going on in many places. Over 90 fires have been found, including a huge one at an oil refinery. A nuclear power plant is in their top emergency mode, with greatly increased radiation. Many areas are still flooded from the tsunami (plural), which have reached up to 10 meters--almost 35 feet high! The toll of dead and missing is over 1100 now and climbing rapidly.

This morning I've been doing email, since many friends and supporters have written asking how we were. (I wrote loved ones right away yesterday, of course.) Several have tried to call from America, but it is almost impossible to get through they say. Our co-workers on furlough finally got through after 45 minutes yesterday.

After this I'll go out and do some evangelism, but not much nowadays since I was recently diagnosed with fallen arches, which causes great pain after just an hour of evangelism. Then I'll go to the church and prepare for tomorrow. I'll teach Greek to Mr. Kodama at 2:00, a Methodist man who wants to become a pastor.

Please pray for me to know what to preach on tomorrow. I have no idea. What I was preparing won't fit the bill. But the people will need encouragement from the Lord. All probably have friends and loved ones down on Honshu Island where the earthquake was most severe, and tsunami and aftershocks are still occurring.

 

That's great to hear. That would include my old friends from college, Pastor Mita and Pastor Tajima, as well as other good friends in the affected area with BMM.