As you probably already know, a major earthquake hit the islands of Japan on Friday.  With a magnitude of 9.1 on the Richter Scale, this places this earthquake within the top five worst earthquakes since 1900.

Hundreds are dead.  Thousands are unaccounted for.  The quake caused massive tsunamis that added to the devastation, and reached as far as the west coast of North and South America.

The quake also caused damage at the nuclear energy facility in the city Fukushima, resulting in a radiation leak that is growing more ominous by the moment.

And added to all of this are the aftershocks and additional earthquakes that continue to hit the islands.

This is a terrible tragedy.  The loss of life and property is staggering, even horrific.

But there are a few things we can learn from this catastrophe.  Here are a three things that come to my mind.

Watch and pray
As tragedy strikes the nation of Japan, the world watches with bated breath.  The question we are all wondering is this: Just how bad are the losses going to be?  We watch the videos.  We read the news reports.  We wait.  And we pray.

At a time like this, that’s really all we can do.  And, God says, it’s enough.  Prayer is a mighty thing.  Our prayers, lifted in concert, are powerful and effective.

Jump in and help those in need
It’s amazing how the world rallies around those who experience massive devastation.  Google has launched the Person Finder Tool, a free information service to help locate someone in Japan.  You can access it here.  Several  blogs and site have chosen to use the Hello Bar as a portal for chartable giving.  You can read about that opportunity at Mashable.com.  And this is just a sampling of the people who are ready and willing to help others in need.

Be ready
We never know when something like this may happen.  While there are many relief organizations who are ready and prepared for events like these, that’s not what I’m talking about.  I’m talking about being ready personally.  The Bible tells us that we cannot know the timing of the second coming.  We are just told to be ready.  The Bible does seem to indicate that there may be severe catastrophes, such as earthquakes, that coincide with the end times.

We just don’t know.  Be ready.

Where I live, we are faced with the potential to experience an earthquake that could be just as devastating.  I live in a small town in the south central part of Missouri, only a couple of hours away from the New Madrid fault.  While there have been some minor earthquakes over the years, the last time it really went was in December of 1811 and January of 1812.  When that happened, it rang church bells in Washington DC, and even caused the Mississippi River to run backwards for a while!

Our town has recently received governmental grants to extend the airport runway in order to handle larger jets, and our church has been equipped and trained to be the Red Cross command center in the event that the New Madrid fault line goes.  We are the first location to the west, out of the expected high damage area, and will be instrumental strategically.

In other words, we are trying to be ready.

As bad as the New Madrid earthquake could be, and as terrifying as the recent ones in Japan were, natural disasters like these will continue to occur.  And, if we understand the Bible correctly, they will continue to increase in frequency until the end.

Until then, our response must be to watch and pray, be willing to jump in and help where needed, and be ready.

What more can we do?

What else would you add to this list?  Is there something I’ve forgotten?  What are your thoughts concerning the tragedy in Japan?  Please leave a comment below.