Prayer Vigil for Japan

A prayer service vigil for Japan was held at St. John’s in Flushing sponsored by Episcopal Asiamerican Ministry of Long Island last Friday, April 15, one month after the recent earthquake, the tsunami and the ongoing threat of nuclear meltdown, with possible further loss of lives. 

St. John's Episcopal Church, Flushing, NY, USA

We ask continuing prayers for the people of Japan, for the safety of those in the middle of the crisis, those working to get the Fukushima accident under control, those clearing out rubble and getting on with their lives, those still searching and still mourning, those newly mourning, those who have had to evacuate.

May Easter hope fill their hearts and lives. 

_____________________________
From April 26 report by ABS-CBN News online:

A total of 14,340 people were killed in the 9.0-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami, while some 11,889 are still missing, amid fears that many of them were swept into the Pacific Ocean and will never be found.

Animal health officials entered the sealed-off zone around the Fukushima plant, planning to assess how many animals need to be put down.

"This is the first time we are going inside the 20-kilometre zone," a veterinarian told public broadcaster NHK.  "We will survey livestock on farms and check their status," he said.

"If we see dead cattle, we might take stop-gap measures, like pouring lime powder over them," he said near the evacuation zone, where 370 farms operated before the crisis, with some 4,000 cows, 30,000 pigs and 630,000 chickens.

Local officials will also check on the condition of horses in Minamisoma city north of the plant, where many have been bred in preparation for the community's traditional folk festival, the veterinarian said on NHK.

In parliament, embattled Prime Minister Kan faced new pressure over the nuclear disaster triggered when the tsunami knocked out cooling systems -- the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl, which hit 25 years ago on Tuesday.

.