Earthquake, thunder, fire, and father

Ooh, that gigantic earthquake and tsunami.

The lastest news say that the fourth-largest earthquake in a century has killed more than 13,340 people and has left millions homeless.

Here in Japan, we were inundated with so much news on the recent Niigata earthquake.

Compared to the 9.0-scaled Indonesian earthquake, this Niigata one is a minnow.

The NHK radio just announced that the Indonesian earthquake packed a destructive force of 300 times more than that of Niigata's.

The most powerful tremble I have ever experienced was a mere 5.0 on the scale.

It was scary enough.

I have been reading the updates by the many Malaysian bloggers.

Penang apparently suffered the most destruction, followed by other states.

In my home state of Kedah, the northern coast and the island of Langkawi were most affected.

My paddy field kampong is probably too far inland for the tsunami to reach.

I wonder how bad Tanjung Dawai is, as this quaint little place is our favorite spot to drive to whenever we are back for a holiday. And, for a bite of the ikan bakar.

In old Japan, they had the four most fearful elements.

These were earthquake, thunder, fire, and father, in that order.

The changing times have thus rearranged the order.

The father is out, irrelevant, and no longer feared as before, while thunder and fire together dropped in order.

In comes typhoon as the second most feared element, while earthquake remains the most terrifying of them all.