Prayers for Japan
March 11, 2011, 7:50 am
Posted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
Keep the people of Japan and the Pacific Rim in your Lenten Friday prayers. The BBC has excellent coverage of the earthquake/tsunami and its aftermath.
Hopefully Fr O’Leary will be online at some point and will give us a first-person report.
The wave struck northern Japan mostly, so I’ll presume that our good blog-mate Joe is OK.
Prayers for Japan.
It apears the loss of life will unfortunately be much larger than initially thought. The AP is also reporting that the quake has brought Tokyo almost to a standstill–trains and subways not running, cell phones and landlines down, electricity not working. This also from the AP puts the earthquake/tsunami in even greater perspective:
“Scientists said the quake ranked as the fifth-largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and was nearly 8,000 times stronger than one that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month.
‘The energy radiated by this quake is nearly equal to one month’s worth of energy consumption’ in the United States, U.S. Geological Survey Scientist Brian Atwater told The Associated Press.”
There’s also a report that one of the largest volcanoes in Indonesia erupted today. It could be coincidence, of course, but any doubts about a geologic Ring of Fire in the Pacific are being sorely tested.
God help them all.
After we’ve said our prayers, it would be a good time to reflect on our own folly in investing in nuclear energy because it’s cheap.
Wikipedia’s article on isostasy explains a lot about the many causes of earthquake. The first part is very mathematical, but you can ignore that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isostasy
I keep thinking of San Francisco. Scary.
“After we’ve said our prayers, it would be a good time to reflect on our own folly in investing in nuclear energy because it’s cheap.”
Actually, it’s not that cheap, given the failsafes and monitoring required at these plants, not to mention cost of moving and storing spent fuel and maintaining security around those sites for 10,000 years is pretty high.
Saddest of all will be the potential health costs, especially in childhood leukemias and lymphomas that could occur over thousands of miles if the core melts down. It’s always the little ones who get hurt the most. Look at Three Mile Island. Look at Chernobyl.
The seismic situation near Seattle is more like this earthquake in Japan, with a subduction zone offshore. A sudden release on the plates would result in a change in the height of the sea floor, which would produce a tsunami. If that happens, the Seattle area would experience a great earthquake, followed by a series of strong waves, which would arrive quickly. Even scarier than San Francisco, if that is possible.
A prayer found on Seattle cathedral’s web site:
The waves of death rose about me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
the snares of the grave surrounded me;
the traps of death confronted me.
The earth reeled and rocked;
The mountains were shaken to their base.
The bed of the ocean was revealed;
The foundations of the world were laid bare.
From on high he reached me and seized me;
He drew me forth from the mighty waters.
From Psalm 18
Lord God,
Creator of the earth, sea, and sky,
be present to the people of Japan
in their time of need.
Receive those who have died into your loving embrace,
and grant their families comfort and peace.
May those who have lost homes and livelihood feel your love
through the help of friends and strangers.
Give them courage and hope
as they rebuild their communities.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.