MAGNITUDE 6.5 QUAKE HITS OFF JAPAN ISLANDS

A TSUNAMI ALERT WAS ISSUED FOR
SOUTHWESTERN JAPAN AFTER STRONG QUAKE HITS

TOKYO (Reuters) - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 hit near islands in southern Japan on Monday, a Japanese government agency said. There were no immediate reports of damage, public broadcaster NHK reported. The quake, at 7:11 p.m. (1011 GMT), rated a 2 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 1 to 7 in some areas, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said, which means that it could be felt by some people in buildings and that hanging objects such as lamps would swing slightly.

It struck near Japan's Ishigaki Island, 223 km (138 miles) east of Taiwan, the JMA said. It followed another earthquake in the area that took place 10 hours earlier. The epicentre of the quake was about 140 km southwest of Ishigaki Island at a depth of 10 km, the JMA said. A warning for a tsunami of around 50 cm (20 inches) was issued after the quake, public broadcaster NHK reported.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

There are adhidaivika miseries, those caused by higher authorities such as the demigods. There may be famine, earthquake, flood, pestilence - so many things. These are adhidaivika sufferings. So we are always suffering one or more of these miseries. This material nature is constituted in such a way that we have to suffer; it is God's law. And we are trying to relieve the suffering by patchwork remedies. But according to the philosophy of Krsna consciousness, you can get free of all your sufferings if you simply change your consciousness to Krsna consciousness. That's all.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"The Journey of Self-Discovery - Chapter III - The Pleasure Principle"