JAPAN SEVERED BY TYPHOON TALAS

THOUSANDS STRANDED AFTER
47 DIE IN JAPAN TYPHOON

http://news.yahoo.com - Thousands of people remained stranded in western Japan on Tuesday as the death toll from a fierce typhoon rose to 47, heaping more misery on a nation recovering from the March earthquake and tsunami. Torrential rain brought by powerful Typhoon Talas, which made landfall Saturday and was the deadliest in seven years, caused rivers to swell and triggered floods and landslides that swept away buildings, homes and roads. More than 50 people were still missing, local authorities told AFP, while Japanese media reported another 100 or so could not be contacted in hard-hit Wakayama prefecture. New Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who was sworn in last week, plans to visit the affected areas on Friday to inspect the damage from the deadly typhoon, top government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said.  Noda will also visit Fukushima on Thursday, home to a nuclear plant crippled by the March 11 disaster at the centre of the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl 25 years ago.

As police, firefighters and Self-Defense Force troops continued their painstaking search for the missing, local authorities were planning to air-drop more food and water to those isolated by the disaster.  In severely affected Wakayama, about 4,500 people remained stranded in communities that could not be reached due to collapsed roads, according to a local official. In Totsukawa village in Nara prefecture, more than 400 people were stranded in evacuation shelters as access routes have mostly been cut off and phone lines were down in most parts of the village. Talas, which moved away from Japan on Sunday, has since been downgraded to a tropical storm but the remnants of its weather system, together with the impact of new Typhoon Noru, continued to dump heavy rains on northern Japan. “After carrying 1,000 litres of drinking water by helicopter yesterday, we are planning also to transport rice, instant noodles and drinks later today,” a local police official said.

Members of Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force, firefighters, soldiers and police officers search destroyed houses for missing people after a landslide triggered by Typhoon “Talas” that brought heavy rains at Tanabe, central Japan on Monday.  The storm dumped record amounts of rain Sunday in western and central Japan as it turned towns into lakes, washed away cars and triggered mudslides that obliterated houses.  The terrible force of nature is one of the clearest signs of this age of Kali, therefore we should reflect on the reasons behind such natural disasters.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Natural calamities are a display of an awesome power immensely and fearfully greater than the human. They jolt us out of our complacent routines and force us to think about the supernatural: Why do such natural disasters occur?  Does God exist? If He does, why does He not stop such calamities? ... All the great spiritual and religious traditions of the world warn us that we are answerable to God for all our actions. Known as the law of karma, this universal, infallible law of action-reaction gives all of us our due pleasures and pains as per our actions, right or wrong. ... We can protect ourselves from our past misdeeds by re-harmonizing ourselves with God. This can be very easily and effectively done by adopting the non-sectarian universal meditation on the Holy Names of God, especially the maha-mantra Hare Krishna.

Śrīpad Caitanya Caran das (BE E&TC) :
“When Nature Boomerangs”
The Spiritual Scientist - Vol. 3 - Issue 13
Bhaktivedanta Academy for Culture and Education (BACE), Pune
http://thespiritualscientist.com/
http://deepak.esmartguy.com/ss/when_nature_boomerangs.htm

7.0 MAGNITUDE QUAKE SHAKES PERU

7.0-MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE 
SHAKES PERUVIAN AMAZON

Pucallpa, Peru (BNO NEWS) - A powerful but deep earthquake struck the Amazon in northern Peru on Wednesday afternoon, seismologists said, injuring several people.  The 7.0-magnitude earthquake at 12.46 p.m. local time (1746 GMT) was centered about 44 kilometers (27 miles) east of Contamana, a town in the Loreto Region in northeastern Peru. It struck about 149 kilometers (92 miles) deep, making it a fairly deep earthquake, according to the Geophysical Institute of Peru.  The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which also measured the earthquake at 7.0 on the Richter scale, estimated that some 40,000 people may have felt strong shaking, while 572,000 people may have felt moderate shaking.  In the Brazilian town of Cruzeiro do Sul, about 135 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Pucallpa the quake hit hard and buildings trembled.

A spokesperson for the National Civil Defense Institute confirmed two people sustained minor injuries when they fell off the roof of a home in the Perené District in Junin when the earthquake struck. One home also collapsed in Perené District, causing no casualties.  The state-run Andina news agency added that 18 children were also injured in Jauja province as a result of panic caused by the earthquake. None of their injuries were believed to be serious.  In August 2007, at least 514 people were killed and more than 1,000 others were injured when a massive 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck the central coast of Peru, generating a small tsunami which flooded some areas.  But Peru’s most catastrophic earthquake happened in May 1970 when a powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck about 36 kilometers (22 miles) off the coast of northwestern Peru, killing at least 66,794 people. More than 50,000 others were injured.

Yesterday, a strong but deep earthquake shook a sparsely populated jungle region in northern Peru, near Brazil’s border. There were no reports of damage or serious injuries.  The quake had a magnitude of 7.0 and was centered 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of the jungle city of Pucallpa.  It was felt mildly in the capital, Lima, but in Pucallpa, buildings shook, trees swayed, and people headed out into the street.  Peru is among the world’s most seismically active countries.  The Vedic texts contain prescriptions and proscriptions to guide us in our actions, if we do not follow them, reactions will come.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

All the great spiritual and religious traditions of the world warn us that we are answerable to God for all our actions. ... According to the International Society for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), there were three times as many great natural disasters in the 1990s as in the 1960s, while disaster costs increased more than nine-fold in the same period. The deaths from natural disasters have increased from 53,000 in 1990 to 83,000 in 2003.  Therefore for the intelligent, the reality of karma is not difficult to see. We can never break the law; we can only break ourselves against the law. A stubborn fool who jumps from the top of a hundred-story building can imagine that there is no law of gravity ? but only till he hits the ground. Similarly we can go on with our godless sinful ways, imagining that there are no karmic laws ? but only till the karmic reactions hit us as tsunamis or terrorism or wars or ecological disasters or in some other way.

Śrīpad Caitanya Caran das (BE E&TC) :
“When Nature Boomerangs” 
“The Spiritual Scientist” - Vol. 3 Issue 13. 
Bhaktivedanta Academy for Culture and Education (BACE), Pune
http://thespiritualscientist.com/

http://deepak.esmartguy.com/ss/when_nature_boomerangs.htm 

RED MEAT BOOSTS DIABETES RISK: US STUDY

RED MEAT CONSUMPTION MAY
INCREASE RISK OF TYPE 2 DIABETES

AFP - Two slices of bacon, a hot dog or a serving of deli meat daily has been found to significantly boost the risk of getting type 2 diabetes, said a major US study published on Wednesday. The research by experts at the Harvard School of Public Health represents the largest study of its kind to date and appears in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  Eating 50 grams of processed red meat every day increased a person’s diabetes risk by 51 percent, while eating 100 grams of unprocessed red meat each day, about the size of a deck of cards, boosted the risk by 19 percent. However, those risks went down if the red meat was substituted with nuts, white meat, low-fat dairy or whole grain proteins. “Clearly, the results from this study have huge public health implications given the rising type 2 diabetes epidemic and increasing consumption of red meats worldwide,” said senior author Frank Hu. “The good news is that such troubling risk factors can be offset by swapping red meat for a healthier protein.”
 
The data for the study came from questionnaire responses from more than 204,000 people in US nurses and health professionals’ studies. The subjects were tracked for between 14 and 28 years. Researchers also updated a meta-analysis that included their data with other studies covering more than 442,000 participants. Diabetes affects nearly 350 million adults worldwide, and more than 11 percent of adults over age 20 - or 25.6 million people - in the United States have the disease, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Type 2 diabetes, a chronic disease that involves high levels of blood sugar, is often caused by obesity, lack of exercise and unhealthy eating habits.
 

Recently, a major study of the US conducted by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health has found that routine consumption of meat could trigger Type 2 diabetes.  It is believed that the high iron content of red meat can increase inflammatory chemicals, which can destroy insulin- producing beta cells - could be the main reason of triggering Type 2 diabetes.  Due to their unnatural diet meat-eating human beings are far more susceptible to diseases and disorders as compared to their vegetarian counterparts.  

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Every day, several times a day, every living being, in whichever part of the world he may be, enjoys a universal ritual - eating.  Most people decide what they eat based mainly on taste, cost, habit, nutrition and convenience.  But for those who are a little more thoughtful, here are some other points worth considering. ... The Bhagavad Gita states that foods such as milk products, grains, fruits, and vegetables increase the duration of life and give strength, health, happiness, and satisfaction. Conversely, foods such as, meat, fish and fowl are putrid, decomposed and unclean. They cause numerous hazards to physical health. ... Apart from bringing severe sinful reactions, meat-eating also dulls the human intellect thus rendering it incapable of understanding the higher dimensions of life. Therefore real spiritual life, nay real human life, can not begin unless a human being stops killing his younger brothers, innocent animals, just for the satisfaction of his tongue.

Śrīpad Caitanya Caran das (BE E&TC) :
“Think Before You Eat”
“The Spiritual Scientist” - Vol. 1 Issue 8.
Bhaktivedanta Academy for Culture and Education (BACE), Pune
http://thespiritualscientist.com/