Murcia, not Rome

The long-dead pseudo-scientist, Raffaele Bendandi, is said to have predicted a massive earthquake in Rome that would have wiped the Eternal City off the face of the Earth yesterday 11th May 2011. Panic spread though our Capital with many people staying off-work and so-called “experts” organizing open spaces gatherings on the outskirts. Fortunately a day later Rome is still all intact and beautiful. Not so Lorca, a lovely small town in Murcia, Spain, hit by a 5.2 magnitude tremor that killed eight people and injured dozen more. Is this just a coincidence or did the “earthquake prophet” just missed the target of a few hundred miles? After all, Rome and Murcia seem to be on the same seismic fault. But how can someone who died in 1979 have predicted and earthquake?

A self-taught astronomer and seismologist, Raffaele Bendandi seemed to have predicted several quakes, including the one which struck Friuli, Italy, in 1976, claiming almost 1,000 lives. He believed earthquakes can be perfectly predictable as they are the direct result of the combined gravitational pulls of the planets, the moon and the sun. Tasty “food” for those who like conspiracy theories.

Scientists allegedly say that it is very unlikely to predict earthquakes, and definitely not thirty years earlier. A forecast is different from a prediction in that it offers a probability of a quake occurring within a designated time frame as opposed to a far more precise prediction calling for an earthquake of a certain magnitude on a certain fault on a certain date. Seismologists would like to be more precise, but so far, no one has figured out how to predict just when and where the next quake is going to hit.

Is This an Act of God?

No doubt you have seen the reports of the massive earthquake/tsunami in Japan. When these terrible things happen, I always think of my friend Susan. She is deeply religious and totally determined to save as many human souls as possible from eternal damnation.
As things get worse and worse in the world, she thinks that we can see Jesus' prophecies coming true and it will not be long now before God steps in and brings an end to our old sinful World. But is this really an act of God?

In the English language “an act of God” is a legal term, which is used to define natural disasters, which happen with no human intervention and are completely outside of their control. Floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides – and tsunamis like the one today in Japan - all of these are examples of natural disasters, causing environmental, financial and unfortunately human losses… If it is an act of God, what does it mean – the divine scourge for our sins, a reminder about the supreme power, or it is just one of the imminent components of the universe order, which keeps the scales between Good and Evil in balance?

WHY?

Maybe an act of God is just an extreme chance for people to respond in their turn with an act of Man and prove that mutual help and support, sympathy and kindness, self-sacrifice and love still remain at the core of the human soul. The deeply wounded Japanese people will brace themselves for more suffering when the actual toll of the disaster surfaces, but I am certain that they will work hard and come back stronger than before with a little bit of help from us all.

Red Cross Disaster Fund:
http://www.redcross.org.uk/disasterfund/?approachcode=68861_DFjapmar

I felt the earth move ...

…. And it wasn’t a good feeling. Yesterday evening I was lying in bed recovering from a painful and distressful stomach bug when I felt the bed shaking as if someone was pushing it sidewise. And a loud rumble as if a big jet had just flown over my house. I was sure it was a small earthquake. I run downstairs and told the rest of my family but nobody else had felt it. The TV was on loud, the kids were sitting on the carpet and they thought I was exaggerating, as usual.

But I was sure it was a quake. I felt them many times in the past when I used to live in Italy. Bad ones too, but fortunately not as bad as in certain parts of my country, where there was destruction and death. My broadband connection went as well. So I couldn't check the news, but this morning I've had my confirmation. The tremor, measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale, struck six miles from Ripon, North Yorkshire, not far from here. The strength it is not likely to have caused any damage, but it was quite unpleasant. It is said that you don't get earthquakes in Yorkshire, but there’s always a first time.

The Cloud

(picture from La Repubblica)

What BA didn’t manage, an almost forgotten volcano in Iceland did: to stop the flights all over the UK and most of Northern Europe.

The Planet will have a slight reprieve with no flights leaving the UK and less pollution and Co2 being pumped into the air. It is very impressive how Mother Nature can ground polluting flights.

I’m not an expert in the field, but I cannot help thinking that all those underground nuclear tests probably have destabilized the Earth crusts so much that earthquakes will be the norm in the near future. Hopefully I’m wrong.

Port-au-Prince before and after

A massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean island of Haiti just ten miles from the capital city of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday 12 January. Local officials are reporting a catastrophe of major proportions. The extent of the devastation is still unclear, but the early signs are not good with communications down across the country.

You can help: please donate now
£10 will buy a hygiene kit for one family.
£25 will buy ten 14-litre buckets.
£50 will buy a two basic latrines that will serve forty people.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/

We are mourning our dead brothers and sisters ...

We will never forget this Good Friday. 287 victims up to now. Many white coffins with children, a 6 months old baby with his mum....Our hearts are bleeding...Jesus, where were you then? We are suffering on the Cross with you now...