NO DAMAGE REPORTED AFTER QUAKE IN JAPAN

STRONG QUAKE SHAKES
JAPAN, NO DAMAGE SEEN

Tokyo (AP) - A strong earthquake shook northern Japan on Wednesday evening, causing small tidal changes on its Pacific coastline but no damage or injury was reported. Several towns issued evacuation orders or advisories to residents nearest the coast. A swelling of 20 centimeters (8 inches) was observed in the port of Hachinohe in Aomori, northern Japan, about one hour after the quake struck the region. Smaller changes were also reported in several locations on Hokkaido island and Aomori prefecture. The agency lifted all tsunami advisories about an hour and half later. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the tremor was 6.8 magnitude. An aftershock of magnitude 5.9 struck followed about two hours later. The town of Otsuchi in Iwate prefecture, where more than 800 died in last year's tsunami, issued an evacuation order to all households along the coast as a precaution, said prefectural disaster management official Shinichi Motoyama. No damage or injury was reported from the quake so far, he said.

Iwate was heavily damaged by last year's earthquake and tsunami. Thousands of aftershocks have shaken the region since then, nearly all of them of minor or moderate strength. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 left some 19,000 people dead or missing. Japan marked the first anniversary of the disasters on Sunday, as the country still struggles to rebuild. Wednesday's tremor was centered about 146 miles (235 kilometers) south of Kushiro, Japan, on Hokkaido island. It was a relatively shallow 6 miles (10 kilometers) below the sea surface. The quake was not felt in Tokyo. Japan's meteorological agency had initially said the waves could be as high as 50 centimetres, but US monitors said there was no Pacific-wide tsunami threat. There were no reports of abnormalities at the Higashidori and Onagawa nuclear power plants in northern Japan, domestic media reported. Reactors at both plants had been shut down for routine maintenance when the quake hit.

There were no immediate reports of damage after northern Japan was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 6.8.  A tsunami warning was issued but later lifted. On March 11, 2011, the country’s northeast coast was struck by a magnitude 9 quake and a big tsunami, which triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years since Chernobyl. The disaster killed about 20,000 people.  Whether you believe it or not, everyone is subordinate to nature, which is working under the direction of God.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Modern scientists say that there are no demigods and that there is no God, that all events are being carried out by nature. It is true that nature is working, but nature, after all, is nothing but matter. Matter cannot work without being directed by a living being. We cannot say that matter works independently. In the ocean we always see that there are great waves moving. Water is dull matter, but the air is pushing these great waves and dashing them onto the earth. Scientists say that nature works in this way and that, but nature is not independent. We receive information from authoritative śāstras that nature is moving under the direction of the demigods. So we cannot say that these processes are automatically taking place. Scientists admit that nature is working in a wonderful way, but, after all, nature is not under their control. The scientists may accept or defy Krishna, but they cannot defy the activities of nature.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“Teachings of Lord Kapila, the Son of Devahuti”
Chapter 17 “Taking Shelter of Krishna, the Supreme Controller”
Verse 42 - Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International