Japan’s Earthquake Seemingly Triggers Indonesia Volcanic Explosion, plus a Nuclear Plant Explosion

Earth cracked by quake in Japan (Danny Choo)

The powerful earthquake that hit northern Japan yesterday had a variety of ramifications:

The official death toll from Friday’s earthquake and tsunami stands at 574, while local media reports put fatality totals closer to 1,300 people. With thousands unaccounted for, that number is expected to rise.

Police said between 200 and 300 bodies were found along the coast in Sendai, the largest city in the area near the quake’s epicenter.

Officials are also trying to contain a potential nuclear crisis. Nuclear plants were disabled and thousands of people were urged to evacuate because of potentially high radiation levels.

Ryohei Shiomi with Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission said that a meltdown was possible at one of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. http://abcnews.go.com/International/japan-searches-survivors-earthquake-tsunami-nuclear-emergency/story?id=13120666&page=1

One report said four whole trains had disappeared Friday and still not been located. Another said 9,500 people in one coastal town were unaccounted for and that at least 200 bodies had washed ashore elsewhere.

Atsushi Ito, an official in Miyagi prefecture, among the worst hit states, could not confirm those figures, noting that with so little access to the area, thousands of people in scores of town could not be contacted or accounted for. http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/12/explosion-at-japan-nuclear-plant-disaster-death-toll-rises/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%7C205842

Local authorities reported that almost 10,000 people – out of a population of 17,000 – were missing from the fishing port of Minamisanriku, which was engulfed by huge waves that swept inland for six miles. The earthquake was so powerful that Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said the Earth’s axis shifted 9.8in. The US Geological Survey said the main island of Japan had moved 7.8ft http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8378631/Japan-earthquake-tens-of-thousands-missing-as-full-devastation-emerges.html

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is urging people to move at least 20 kilometers away from the nuclear power plant where an explosion occurred Saturday. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Japans-PM-Urges-Evacuation-Near-Nuclear-Plant-117850648.html

(CNN) — An explosion at an earthquake-damaged nuclear plant was not caused by damage to the nuclear reactor but by a pumping system that failed as crews tried to bring the reactor’s temperature down, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Saturday. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.nuclear/

Associated Press – March 11, 2011

JAKARTA, Indonesia – One of Indonesia’s most active volcanos has erupted, sending lava and searing gas clouds tumbling down its slopes.

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, is located on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

The eruption happened hours after a massive earthquake in Japan that triggered a Pacific-wide tsunami. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110311/ap_on_re_as/as_indonesia_volcano_1

Causing Japan’s main island to move almost 8 feet suggests a huge amount of power was released by that quake.

It has previously been reported that earthquakes can trigger volcanic eruptions (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090110084653.htm)–and that may be what happened in Indonesia.

The following, reported by ABC, was also of interest:

Many in Tokyo spent the night in their cars trying to get home because the highways were closed and cars clogged the city’s streets.

Store shelves were stripped bare by shoppers and thousands more spent the night in their offices.

So even in Tokyo people cleared store shelves of necessities. People need to take precautions as troubles are hitting some areas and more will hit others (see also Physical Preparation Scriptures for Christians).

Jesus, of course, warned about a time with such issues:

8 … And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be…troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. (Mark 13:8)

We may be at this prophetic point as all the earthquakes and other problems that have happened in the past year or so could be considered as “troubles”.

Troubles will also be coming to the Anglo-descended lands.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? When does the six thousand years of human rule end?
Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2011, 2012, or 2013? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? What is “the beginning of sorrows”? Have we begun or are we about ready for “the beginning of sorrows” to begin.
Japan, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 1: Any Witness? Where did the Japanese people come from? Have they had any witness?
Japan, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 2: Prophecy Japan in prophecy. What is prophesied for Japan? Will God save the Japanese?
Islands and Bible Prophecy What’s ahead for islands? What does the Bible prophesy about them?
Asia in Prophecy What is Ahead for Asia? Who are the “Kings of the East”? What will happen to nearly all the Chinese, Russians, Indians, and others of Asia? China in prophecy, where? Who has the 200,000,000 man army related to Armageddon?
Physical Preparation Scriptures for Christians. We all know the Bible prophecies famines. Should we do something?