The continents and oceans of the world sit on distinct but joined plates called tectonic plates, whose movements create faults (lines). From these faults, earthquakes do occur, either on the sea floor, creating Tsunamis and floodings, or on land, destroying lives and property.
These same tectonic plate movements along the faults also cause volcanoes, where hot magma (molten rocks) is pushed up with great force from mountains/hills into the surroundings. There’re currently about 1500 active volcanoes globally, several of which are on the Pacific basin (between the American, Asian, and Australasian continents) faults: these form the “Ring of Fire”.
Volcanoes near the equator can cause global weather changes if the eruptions are powerful enough to release gases into the stratosphere, which get trapped as it is too high above the clouds to be washed by rain. These gases move along the equator and spread to the poles (north and south pole), blocking sunlight to the earth.
The most impactful volcanic eruption occurred in 1815 in Indonesia, on Mount Tambora. Whiles it killed 100,000 people immediately, millions more died in its aftermath. The amount of ash and gases it pushed into the atmosphere changed the world’s climate for 3 years, making it colder and causing widespread crop failure and starvation from Asia to Europe and the US; 3 million people starved to death within the 3 years.
A new cholera strain emerged due to the colder temperatures, killing 10s of millions of people globally! Similarly, Mount St. Helen’s volcano, one of the largest in US history, that occurred in Washington in 1980, destroyed billions of properties and deposited ash in 11 US states🇺🇸 and five Canadian provinces 🇨🇦, killing several wildlife, fishes, and farm crops. Several arable land and forests turned into a wasteland.
Although not described herein, the effects of earthquakes are equally precarious and show how helpless man is. For there is nothing man can do to prevent or fight against these natural disasters, even with the most sophisticated technology on earth. Multiple earthquakes coupled with volcanic eruptions can unleash darkness, ash, flooding, diseases, and starvation on unprecedented scales on the earth, wiping out billions of lives. For instance, on January 23, 1556, in Shaanxi, China, an earthquake claimed around 830,000 deaths: It was regarded as the world’s deadliest earthquake. According to reports, the earthquake was responsible for the devastation of 97 counties and eight provinces in Central China and extended over an area of 520 kilometres.
All our telecommunications, transportation, and electricity networks can be destroyed by single earthquakes or volcanoes, making our lives unbearable! Our life on earth does depend on the mercies of God in keeping these natural forces at bay. However, the Bible states that earthquakes shall increase as we near the end of time, and statistics show that earthquakes and volcanoes are increasing.
On this Sabbath, we need to reflect on these issues and appreciate our helplessness and dependence on nature and nature’s Creator. May God preserve us in peace and love from these forces that can be used by Satan to destroy billions. A Happy blissful Sabbath to all the saints of Jehovah
