NEW ZEALAND ROCKED BY MORE EARTHQUAKES

POWERFUL QUAKES AGAIN HIT
NEW ZEALAND’S CHRISTCHURCH

New Zealand http://www.reuters.com - A series of powerful tremors rattled the quake-prone New Zealand city of Christchurch on Monday, destroying buildings and sending boulders tumbling down hillsides nearly four months after a quake killed 181 people.  There were no reported fatalities.  New Zealand’s Civil Defense said 10 people suffered minor injuries in the quakes, with the strongest put at a magnitude of 6.0 at 2.20 p.m. (10:20 p.m. ET on Sunday) local time.  Buildings were evacuated and infrastructure damaged across the city, still trying to recover from the February 22 6.3 magnitude earthquake.  Civil Defense said two people had been rescued from a damaged church. There were no further reports of trapped people.

Monday’s quake knocked the New Zealand dollar lower and was seen as another hurdle to rebuilding New Zealand’s second largest city, likely encouraging the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to keep interest rates on hold for longer.  As with the initial quake, Monday’s aftershock sent boulders on the city’s Port Hills tumbling toward houses. Parts of the eastern city which suffered the most damage in February’s tremor suffered from flooding and liquefaction - where solid ground is turned into liquid by the force of the quake.  Power was cut to about 50,000 houses and there were reports of damage to roads, buildings and water supplies.  A number of homes were likely to remain without power overnight, with the temperature likely to dip close to freezing.

New Zealand was struck by two major earthquakes, with the first hitting 1 p.m. Monday followed by four minor earthquakes in the afternoon.  This is Christchurch’s third recent earthquake with the first one hitting on September 4 and the second on February 22 which resulted in 181 deaths.  People are suffering from the strong beating of Mother Nature, and as we are living in the plane of ignorance and error, we can not understand what purpose lies behind a climate natural phenomenon. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

Only Krishna knows what purpose is served by the grass bending in the wind to this side, not that. ... The universal meaning of every event and incident, even the movement of a piece of straw, is all-purposeful and all-meaningful to the Absolute. It all contributes to the absolute satisfaction of Krishna. But that reading is not possible for the superficial jīvas. ... We may interpret in our own way the reason for an earthquake, a storm, or anything, but that reading is from our local interest - the real meaning is hidden.  This is maya, and on the basis of that we are performing so many activities.  
All our interpretations are from the plane of local interest, so give it up!

Śrīla Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Mahārāja :
“Hearing to See” - “The Plane of Ignorance and Error”
Rays of The Harmonist No. 13 Karttika 2003.
Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library - www.bvml.org/SBRSM/