Earthquake

When the earthquake first struck, just before 3, I felt nothing. I was sleeping, you see. It didn't take long for me to wake up, because even through my unconscious state, I knew that the train had stopped some place it shouldn't be stopping at, so I woke up.

That's when I noticed the whole train was swaying left and right (meaning I was rocking forward and backward). It didn't bother me too much, since earthquakes had happened before. But as the shaking continued, and started to get worse, I started to feel just a tinge of concern...which became a lot more than a tinge when I noticed that the lamppost just next to the tracks was also swaying pretty drastically. And the tremors went on for much longer than normal.

The train managed to move into Nerima station after the initial round of tremors ceased, but while we were waiting there to see if it was safe to continue the journey, a second round of shocks hit, rocking the train, shaking the electric cables, and rattling the zinc roofing of the platform. An announcement was repeated over the station's PA system, and even though I'm not particularly good at understanding such announcements, it doesn't take much to realize that they were shutting down the trains because of the possibility of aftershocks.

All this was a bit of an inconvenience for me, but owing to the fact that it was a pretty serious earthquake, I wasn't too upset. So I started walking to Ikebukuro. Then I caught a bit of news in a shop window, and saw the fire at the Chiba plant.

Then, later on, I saw the full news reports, and while Tokyo had gotten tremors, it was nothing compared to what was happening in the north part of Honshu, closer to where the earthquake struck. I saw the pictures that everyone who has seen the news would have seen, of waves of muddy water sweeping over farmland, carrying boats into places boats should never be, houses floating past the roofs of other submerged structures, cars stacked carelessly on top of other cars, and the death toll, 60 when I first saw the news, 300 by the time I got home, over a thousand this morning. And I realized just how terrible this was.

And I want to rail at God sometimes, ask Him why this sort of thing has to happen, but I also know that what I really have to do is to come before Him in prayer, and give it all to Him.

So please pray for those who have been affected. Pray that rescue work can go on unimpeded. Pray that the weather will be good for finding people/dealing with emergencies. Pray for those who have lost family and friends. Pray for the Lord's mercy and healing.

Please.