Page Two

In November 1986, Mount Mihara on the island of Izu-Oshima, Japan, suddenly erupted, threatening the whole island along with its population of ten thousand islanders and tourists. When the announcement, “Evacuate now!” came, how did they react?

Read the following articles, and think about how you might have reacted under the various circumstances discussed.

Heeding a Warning May Save Your Life

A WARNING might be a traffic sign stating “Slow,” “Caution,” or “Yield”; or it might be a flashing yellow light. It might be found on a container of medicine or poison. Heeding such warnings is no great inconvenience, and it may save your life.

However, in some cases it may mean a disrupting of plans or a loss of material possessions. Storm and hurricane warnings may require fishermen to return to shore or to stay in port and not work that day. Warnings may mean not only a disrupting of plans but an abandoning of home and possessions, or the putting up with the inconvenience of temporary shelters. Sometimes such warnings go unheeded, with resultant loss of life.

For example, in the spring of the year 1902, all things were going well on the beautiful Caribbean island of Martinique. Then warnings of disaster began to appear as Mount Pelée, a volcanic mountain located about five miles (8 km) from St. Pierre, the island’s principal city, became active. Eventually, as smoke, ash, and bits of rock belched forth along with acrid fumes, townspeople became apprehensive. Conditions continued to worsen, and it should have been evident that real danger was imminent.

Unheeded Warnings

Because the sugarcane harvest was approaching, St. Pierre’s businessmen assured the people that there was no danger. The politicians, concerned with the upcoming election, did not want the people to be fleeing, so they spoke in a similar vein. The religious leaders cooperated by telling their parishioners that all was well. Then, on May 8, Mount Pelée exploded with a tremendous roar. Superheated black clouds raced toward St. Pierre, and some 30,000 people died.

For many generations Mount St. Helens, located in the state of Washington, U.S.A., was a picture of peace and serenity. The area was filled with a great variety of wildlife and was ideal for hiking and fishing. But then in March 1980, danger signals came in the form of numerous earthquakes and minor eruptions of steam. By early May the mountain was acting up with greater intensity. Local and state officials began to issue warnings of danger to those in the area of the volcano.

Still, a number of people remained in the area, while others ignored signs warning against crossing into the danger area. Suddenly, early Sunday morning, May 18, there was a tremendous explosion that blew off some 1,300 feet (400 m) of the mountaintop and rained down destruction on plants and animals, as well as on some 60 humans who had failed to heed the warnings given.

In contrast, in November 1986, Mount Mihara on the island of Izu-Oshima, Japan, suddenly erupted, threatening the whole island along with its population of ten thousand islanders and tourists. When the announcement, “Evacuate now!” came, they heeded the warning. The following articles from Awake! correspondent in Japan tell the story.

“Evacuate Now!”

By Awake! correspondent in Japan

Exodus of Ten Thousand People Overnight

“EVACUATE now! Right away!” Elderly men and women in the Oshima Home for Senior Citizens were told to take refuge in an elementary school because of the eruption of Mount Mihara on November 21, 1986. Though the staff of the home had been prepared to evacuate since the volcano became active a few days earlier, the suddenness of the violent eruption that afternoon did not make it easy for them to flee.

“We could not even think about the stretchers we had prepared,” explains Kazuko, a member of the home staff. “We took the elderly in our arms or carried them on our backs to the two buses that the town office had dispatched to the home. These were soon filled, and some people had to be taken by truck to a shelter.”

In time the elderly arrived at the port and were put aboard a Maritime Safety Agency’s boat in order to evacuate the island. They were among the first ones to leave. The evacuation of more than ten thousand islanders and tourists followed.

Earthquakes and Eruptions

Mount Mihara on the island of Izu-Oshima, usually called Oshima, is one of four active volcanoes under strict surveillance in Japan. It has been known for its mild activities. On November 15, 1986, however, the mountain erupted only two weeks after the Volcano Eruption Predicting Liaison Conference declared the mountain safe. The eruptions from crater number one kept increasing. (See map on page 6.) Lava flowed out of the inner rim of this crater into the volcano’s caldera. Then, on the 21st, an unexpected eruption shocked the islanders. A new crater formed. This was followed by eruptions from cracks in the ground shooting up fountains of fire more than 330 feet (100 m). New fire fountains shot up as cracks continued to open up on the side of the mountain.

Earthquakes shook people already terrified by the eruptions. Within an hour, altogether 80 earthquakes rocked the island. Overflowing lava from the outer rim of the crater snaked down the mountain and headed for the most populated area of Oshima, Motomachi. The flow toward Motomachi prompted Hidemasa Uemura, the mayor, to order the evacuation of the islanders from Motomachi. At this time, the southern part of the island, the Habu area, was considered safe.

‘A Mushroom Cloud Like That of an Atom Bomb Explosion’

“We were having tea,” recalls Jiro Nishimura, the only elder in the Izu-Oshima Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. “Then, a great explosion shook the air. When I went outside, there was a mushroom cloud above Mount Mihara just like that of an atom bomb explosion. I realized that this was no trivial eruption. I could hear something over the town office’s loudspeaker, but since I couldn’t hear the announcement clearly, I called the town office. They said that the inhabitants of the Motomachi area were not yet being advised to evacuate. I knew we had to have something to eat, so I asked my wife to cook rice and make rice balls. But even before I finished eating my first rice ball, the evacuation order was issued.

“Five of us, including my wife’s mother, who is 90 years old, fled to the Motomachi Port parking lot. People were lined up to board the boat to evacuate the island. The line was long, but since my wife’s mother was old and could not walk alone, we were allowed to board an earlier boat bound for Atami.”

For some, it was not easy to leave the island to which they have strong attachment. Kichijiro Okamura, 84 years old, an acupuncturist at the Oshima Home for Senior Citizens, has lived on Oshima for 40 years. Okamura relates his feelings: “The earthquakes were very bad, but I thought it was all right and wanted to see how things would go for a few days. I am used to eruptions and earthquakes. I did not worry too much because I knew it would eventually subside. But firemen took me by force and made me leave. I had to give in.” He left with his wife Yoshie, their two daughters, and four grandchildren.

Evacuation Order for the Whole Island

At first, the lava flow threatened only the northern part of the island. Some who lived in the Motomachi area were transported to the Habu area. The inhabitants of the southern part of the island were merely advised to gather at gymnasiums or schools.

“I had but two blankets and this bag,” says Kaoko Hirakawa, who took refuge in the Nomashi gymnasium at 5:00 p.m. “I thought it would only be overnight.” Her husband Rinzo thought about his sick parents, who lived near the new crater. Worried, they got into a car to pick up his parents. “The earthquakes were tremendous,” relates Rinzo. “It was just like being in a boat. As soon as we got my parents into the car, the ground only a few kilometers away from my parents’ home erupted.” They managed to reach the Nomashi gymnasium, but later they were told to move to Habu.

At 10:50 p.m. the town mayor ordered the whole island to be evacuated. “We took refuge at the Third Junior High School in Habu,” Mrs. Tamaoki relates. “Then we were told to walk to the port. But Port Habu is too shallow for larger boats, so finally we had to take a bus to Motomachi, where we boarded a boat to Tokyo.”

The exodus of more than ten thousand islanders and tourists was completed by 5:55 a.m., November 22, with the mayor and officials boarding the last boat for evacuees. The evacuation of Izu-Oshima was completed within five hours after the major eruption. It took place smoothly and orderly for the most part, to the credit of town officials, the shipping company that sent vessels to Oshima for the evacuation, and the willing cooperation of the islanders. With only rare exceptions, they obeyed the evacuation order promptly. Just a few hundred policemen, firemen, and other personnel stayed on the island, as well as a small number who refused to evacuate.

But where did the evacuees settle? Who would take care of them? How did Jehovah’s Witnesses on the island fare?

[Diagram/​Maps on page 6]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

OSHIMA

MT. MIHARA

Tokyo

Shimoda

Inatori

Sakurajima

Ito

Atami

Ebina

[Diagram] Oshima

Okata

Kitanoyama

lava flow

crater no.2

eruptions

crater no.1

outer rim of the crater

Sashikiji

Port Habu

MT. MIHARA

Nomashi

Motomachi

airport

[Picture on page 4]

“Firemen took me by force and made me leave”

[Picture Credit Line on page 5]

Page 2 photo: K. Abe, Earthquake Research Institute, Tokyo. All rights reserved

Homeless​—But Alive!

By Awake! correspondent in Japan

THE first boats carrying evacuees arrived in ports along the Izu Peninsula during the night of November 21. Later it was decided that these people should be sent to Tokyo, since Oshima is under the jurisdiction of the Tokyo metropolitan government. The metropolitan government together with the national government took the initiative in organizing the relief work. Jehovah’s Witnesses in both the Izu and the Tokyo areas as well as at the branch headquarters, located in Ebina City only about 50 miles (80 km) from Mount Mihara, also organized relief work.

As news reports of the event interrupted regular television programs, Jehovah’s Witnesses living nearby became especially concerned about their spiritual brothers and sisters on the island. Nobumasa Obata of the Ito Congregation and others got in touch with Witnesses in the Izu area and organized activity for the receiving of evacuees. By 6:30 p.m. that day, the Witnesses were at each port on the Izu Peninsula and at Atami, ready to receive their brothers from Oshima.

When Jiro Nishimura and four others arrived at Atami about ten o’clock that evening, the Witnesses in Atami, with Watchtower and Awake! magazines in their hands, met them. Since the government authorities had not yet decided what to do, the evacuees were allowed to stay with anyone they wished. They headed for Yugawara, where Nishimura’s son serves as an elder in the local congregation. The apartment in which they settled became a liaison center for the evacuees of the Oshima Congregation.

At 8:00 the next morning, the Branch Committee at the branch headquarters of the Watch Tower Society in Ebina decided to send immediately two branch representatives to the Izu area and two to the Tokyo area to organize relief work.

As the branch representatives discussed relief work with Nishimura, Mitsuo Shiozaki arrived with relief supplies from his congregation in Numazu. Evacuees especially appreciated the clothes he distributed among them, for quite a number of them did not have any clothing other than what they wore when they left their island. They also gratefully accepted the food he had brought along.

Relief committees were designated in Izu and Tokyo to distribute needed funds to members of the Oshima Congregation. Such committees were also to look after the spiritual needs of the evacuees.

Relief Work in Tokyo

At 9:55 p.m. on November 21, after some ships had left with evacuees for cities on the Izu Peninsula, the governor of Tokyo ordered that all evacuees be sent to Tokyo. Yoshio Nakamura, an elder in the Mita Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Tokyo, was asked to organize the relief work there. Nakamura’s apartment became the headquarters for relief work in Tokyo.

He asked some from his congregation and some from the Shinagawa Congregation to come with him. Ten of these left Nakamura’s at about two o’clock Saturday morning and headed for the piers where the boats from Oshima were scheduled to arrive. The brothers were equipped with signs saying: “Members of the Oshima Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, please get in touch with us.”

Until the last ship came, they went back and forth between the two piers where the boats arrived. It was then after ten o’clock Saturday morning. Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Chuo Congregation also went to another pier where the ships from Oshima arrived. Not knowing which ships would have their fellow believers aboard, the Witnesses in Tokyo tried to meet all the ships that came in to Tokyo.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses,” recalls Kazuyuki Kawashima, “were the only representatives of a religious group who came to meet their fellow believers at the pier. The only other group that met the evacuees was from the teachers’ union.”

By Saturday evening, members of the Mita and Shinagawa Congregations had voluntarily assembled clothing and other relief supplies for immediate distribution among their spiritual brothers from Oshima. The Witnesses loaded these supplies into a van and visited the shelters where the Witness evacuees were accommodated. The Witnesses from Oshima as well as non-Witnesses who were there benefited from the relief supplies.

Encouraged by the Concern of Others

One Witness evacuee related: “When we left Oshima, we ourselves did not know where we were going. As we got off the ship, however, we spotted a sign saying, ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses.’ Imagine how surprised and impressed we were! Tears welled up in my wife’s eyes as she was overcome by relief at finding our brothers there to meet us at the pier.

“No sooner had we settled down in the Sports Hall in Koto Ward and telephoned Brother Nakamura than the branch representatives arrived to encourage us. This really impressed us, and we could find no words to express our appreciation.”

During the week, the relief-committee members visited all shelters accommodating the Witnesses and checked the needs of their fellow believers. They found that evacuated Witnesses were well taken care of by local congregations. Some Bible students were invited to the homes of local Witnesses for meals every day, and they appreciated such acts of kindness shown to them by Witnesses whom they did not know before this disaster.

This evacuation was successful because appropriate warnings were given and the people heeded them. But all mankind is facing a far greater danger that is coming with great speed. Warning is now being given, showing people how to escape this danger and preserve their lives. Will you heed this warning?

[Picture on page 7]

Jiro Nishimura checking the whereabouts of fellow believersa

[Footnotes]

[Pictures on page 8]

Mitsuo Shiozaki distributes relief supplies

Many evacuees slept on cold gymnasium floors

Will You Heed Warnings of Imminent Disaster?

SOME natural disasters cause a disruption in the lives of people; others, great destruction of life and property. Usually, though, such affect only a small part of the earth and its population at any one time. Our present generation, however, is facing a disaster of earth-wide dimensions that will affect all humankind.

No, it is not a nuclear war between the superpowers, although that would be a terrible disaster. Rather, we are speaking of God’s expressed purpose to remove all badness from the face of the earth.

The scope of this disaster was expressed by Jesus in his prophecy pertaining to the conclusion of the system of things: “Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved.”​—Matthew 24:3, 21, 22.

They Saved Their Lives

Jesus compared this worldwide disaster with an earlier world calamity, the Flood of Noah’s day, stating: “For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be.” (Matthew 24:37) The Bible states that in the days before the Flood “the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time.” Jehovah said: “I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground.”​—Genesis 6:5-8.

As for Noah, we read at Hebrews 11:7: “By faith Noah, after being given divine warning of things not yet beheld, showed godly fear and constructed an ark for the saving of his household.” Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives were all preserved alive through the Flood.

The rest of mankind at that time, however, ignored the warning given. According to Jesus’ words, people in those days before the Flood were “eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away.”​—Matthew 24:38, 39.

In the days of Lot, God determined to bring the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah to ruin because of their gross immorality. Yet, they continued ‘eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building’ as though nothing was about to happen. Though Lot warned his prospective sons-in-law of the danger, ‘in their eyes he seemed like a man who was joking.’ But God directed fire and sulfur to rain from the skies, destroying all of them. Lot and his daughters obeyed the warning and saved their lives.​—Luke 17:28, 29; Genesis 19:12-17, 24.

Warning in Jesus’ Day

In Jesus’ day the Jewish people had rejected God’s Word in favor of their own traditions, and they also rejected God’s Son as the Christ, or Messiah. God determined to execute his judgment upon them and their glorious city, Jerusalem, by means of the Roman armies. Jesus gave warning about this and told his disciples how to escape that judgment. He said:

“When you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, . . . then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains.” And: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near. Then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw, and let those in the country places not enter into her; because these are days for meting out justice, that all the things written may be fulfilled.” (Matthew 24:15, 16; Luke 21:20-22) It would be a time for urgent action, a person not even taking time to secure his material possessions. Jesus said: “Let the man on the housetop not come down to take the goods out of his house; and let the man in the field not return to the house to pick up his outer garment.”​—Matthew 24:17, 18.

In the year 66 C.E., Jerusalem was surrounded by Roman troops under Cestius Gallus, in fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy. The Romans, who were actually undermining the temple wall and thus standing in the holy place of the Jews, were something disgusting to the Jews. The warning sign was there but no opportunity to flee. Then Cestius Gallus unexpectedly withdrew his troops. Christians began fleeing to the mountains. The majority of the people, however, remained in the city, and other Jews continued to come into it for their religious festivals.

In 70 C.E., when the city was crowded with Passover celebrants, the Roman forces under General Titus returned with a vengeance and laid siege to Jerusalem. In time the walls were breached, the temple and the entire city destroyed, and according to the historian Josephus, 1,100,000 people died, and 97,000 survivors were sold into slavery to Egypt and other lands. This was the lot of those who failed to heed Jesus’ warning. Those who fled from the city, as Jesus had commanded, preserved their lives.

Heed the Warning Now

Jesus’ prophecy, as recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, was to have a greater fulfillment. Remember, Jesus was also answering the question of his apostles about the sign of his presence, which the Bible associates with the end of a whole world system of things. (Daniel 2:44; Matthew 24:3, 21) Jesus outlined that his return, or presence, which would be invisible, would be marked by a sign that would include wars, food shortages, earthquakes, pestilences, increase of lawlessness, persecution of his disciples, anguish of nations, and men becoming faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.​—Matthew 24:7, 8, 12; Luke 21:10, 11, 25, 26.

Who can deny that the generation since World War I has experienced an increase in all these pangs of distress? So that people would understand the significance of these things, Jesus prophesied: “And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14) Jehovah’s Witnesses have zealously preached this good news of the Kingdom in more than 200 lands in some 200 different languages, warning people of the imminent execution of God’s judgment. With reference to those who would see the beginning of pangs of distress, which began with World War I, Jesus stated: “This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur.”​—Matthew 24:34.

The way to heed Jesus’ warning is, not by fleeing to literal mountains or by escaping to some other area of the earth, but by turning to the true God, Jehovah, and learning of his provision for preservation of life. You can do this by contacting those who are giving this warning, Jehovah’s Witnesses, letting them study the Bible with you, and associating with them.

If heeding warnings was critical for some ten thousand Japanese who escaped destruction from a volcano, how much more vital it is for us to act now to receive Jehovah’s protection from worldwide destruction in this time of the end!

[Picture on page 10]

By heeding warnings, Lot and his daughters escaped destruction