On March 14th four ‘Christian Relief, Assistance, Support, and Hope’ teams (CRASH) travelled to set up six relief team base camps in the earthquake zone. CRASH works with leaders in each area to ensure the relief camps are safe places through which volunteer teams can operate effectively distributing fresh fruit, butane stoves, diapers, baby milk, etc. Missionary Phillip Foxwell recently returned from working in Takayama where he grew up and spoke of the disaster, ‘All I can say is there is devastation beyond anything I've ever even imagined. Absolutely every single building is wiped out. The situation is so much worse than the news broadcasts. It’s like a warzone and I can’t wrap my head around it.’ CRASH teams in the area who are talking with people and praying for and with them said, ‘We pray for them and by blessing them we’ve been blessed more than we can imagine.’

Pray: for CRASH Japan volunteers and other Christian agencies as they identify pressing needs and mobilize teams in each area. (Ps.112:4)

More: http://crashjapan.com/

Earlier this year post-disaster Tokyo pastor Jonathan Wilson urged ‘outward-looking’ missions to reach Japanese for Christ. Christian leaders call Japan ‘a hard soil to plant the Gospel.’ We can pray for Japan to become good soil that will eagerly receive the Good News of Jesus Christ (Mat.13:23). The Japanese continue to see Christianity as a Western religion. We can pray for the Church in Japan to add more Japanese culture and hymns to its worship services (Ps.117:1-2). This week Japan's prime minister appealed to the international community to help fix the on-going crisis at its damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. We can pray for the Christian Believers who are still engaged in relief efforts and ministry more than two years after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident. (1 Cor.15:58) The following link will lead you to some of the many Churches ministering in Japan’s hard spiritual ground:- http://across.co.nz/churches.Japan.html and http://win1040.com/page.php?id=558 will aid informed intercession.

Pray: for God to pour out his anointing for evangelism on Christians working in Japan. Pray also for agencies to know God’s strategies on how to reach the nation. (Pr.24:3-4)

More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10359894/Japan-asks-international-community-to-helpsolve-Fukushima-crisis.html

Japanese geologists calculated that Friday 11th March’s earthquake shifted the Earth’s axis by 10cm. an American source quoted in Reuters said it threw the earth off its axis point by at least 8 centimeters.

The power of the earthquake caused the shape of the country's coastline to change and the landmass we know as Japan moved by between 2.5 and 3 meters sideways in the ocean. The 24 hour day of the 11th March was increased by minutes.

Sources: BBC Radio 4 and BBC Website

A prophecy given at a Swanwick Prayer Conference on Wednesday 9th March - three days before the earthquake.

'As God revealed His Name in the Old Testament, He is revealing Himself today.
God will quickly change the character in a nation.
As in the days of Noah, I can change landscapes quickly.

As Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara is officially inaugurated in front of heads of state from around the world, Oxfam warned of more than 300,000 people displaced from their homes within the country and in neighbouring Liberia being in ‘dire’ need of assistance because the conflict in the months following the presidential election triggered a severe humanitarian crisis with only 35 per cent of the UN's appeals for funds being met. The shortfall in donors amounts to a funding gap of $200 million. In neighbouring Liberia, between 200 and 400 refugees continue to arrive daily from the Ivory Coast, yet the response is only 44 per cent funded.

Pray: for funding to be released so that agencies can meet the needs of the displaced in Liberia and Ivory Coast. (Deut.25:4)

More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/oxfam.warns.of.severe.humanitarian.crisis.in.ivory.coast/28026.htm

Archbishop Jean-Pierre Kutwa of Abidjan said shootings have reduced but it is a disquieting calm and very tense. People are barricaded in their homes, some without water, electricity or food as they await the finale to the battle in an indescribable tragedy. Internationally recognised President Alassane Ouattara needs to take over the presidential palace and the national radio and television network headquarters. The local Church feels, ‘Without control of these three structures Ouattara cannot establish himself in the eyes of Ivorians as the legitimate authority of the Country.’ It is reported that both sides have recruited mercenaries and militias to fight the past months battles.

Pray: for all weapons and missiles to be laid down by state-run military and hired foreign militia. (Ps.118:17)

More: http://www.cisanewsafrica.com/?p=984

30,000 people are trapped in a church compound in Ivory Coast as fighting worsens. A priest who did not want to be named said many who had sought refuge at the mission were migrants from West African countries who had been working in the cocoa plantations. Many arrived with gunshot wounds. Forces loyal to UN-backed President-elect Alassane Ouattara are on the offensive on several fronts against the army loyal to ‘President’ Laurent Gbagbo who refuses to stand down despite losing November's election. The UN has accused pro-Gbagbo forces of shooting civilians and killing at least 10 on Monday. A group of Gbagbo supporters burnt another man alive. One million people have fled the violence. The priest appealed for his mission to be treated as a safe haven by all the fighting forces and says there is not enough food or sanitation for those inside.

Pray: for the Christians within the compound to be strengthened as they attempt to comfort, calm and minister to the terrified hiding in the compound. (Ps.119:122-123)

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12890555

Christian aid workers are providing medical assistance to thousands of people fleeing unrest in Ivory Coast. The country has been hit by months of unrest as incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo refuses to hand over power to his rival Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised winner of last November’s presidential election. The instability has turned to violent conflict in recent weeks as rival forces clash in the Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan. The violence has triggered an exodus of more than 70,000 people, around half of whom have crossed the border into Liberia. Most of the refugees in Liberia are concentrated in the border village of Butuo, where ACT Alliance member Finn Church Aid has been supplying the clinics with medicine and other medical supplies since December.

Pray: that the aid workers in the Ivory Coast will receive all that is necessary to meet the needs of the refugees. (Ps.132:15)

More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/church.aiding.refugees.as.insecurity.worsens.in.ivory.coast/27620.htm

Two peasant brothers were brutally crucified on ‘the example of Christ’ as forces loyal to Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara continue to target perceived supporters of his ousted Christian predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo. Raphael Aka Kouame died of his injuries; incredibly his younger brother, Kouassi Privat Kacou, survived the ordeal. The pair were badly beaten and tortured before being crudely nailed to cross-shaped planks by their hands and feet with steel spikes on 29 May. The brothers were falsely accused of hiding weapons in their home village of Binkro, which has been targeted by Ouattara supporters as the birthplace of a key enemy. The brothers repeatedly denied any involvement in a weapons cache, but their pleas were ignored. This is just one of the many atrocities that have been committed as fighting between Ouattara and Gbagbo supporters has continued in the wake of the disputed presidential election last November.

Pray: for the protection of the believers against such atrocities. (Ps.5:1)

More: http://www.barnabasfund.org/Brothers-crucified-by-Ouattara-forces-in-Ivory-Coast.html