PCA Missionary Tom Hudson provided the following information to The Aqulia Report this evening (Tuesday, 11:25PM EDST)

The following is a report we received this evening from Rev. and Mrs. Koji Easaki. Koji is Japanese and is a graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary. He ministers in the Nagoya area, about 160 miles west of Toyko. Nagoya is Japan’s fourth largest city, and home to automobile and motorcycle giants, Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, Yamaha, and Suzuki. The Easkis have been ministering in Nagoya since 1993 as Presbyterian Mission International missionaries.

Dear All,

In response to some of your concerns, we are doing fine–sort of–and not experiencing any of the loss, trauma, cold and hardships that those in northern Japan are dealing with. Having said that, we felt another strong aftershock last night as we were going to bed at about the same magnitude as the initial quake, which reminds us that things are not over yet.

The Fukushima power plant is 400 miles north of us, however the school (where I teach) has closed for three days and gone to online learning. Over the last two days, there has been a slow but steady exodus of families and on Wednesday afternoon the school decided to close for the rest of the week. All of this is due to the uncertainty of the nuclear plant.

French and German companies in our area have moved their personnel back to Europe, and the French embassy closed in Tokyo. A handful of teachers are leaving for Hong Kong, Honolulu, and other places for the next five days. So we are OK, but life is not normal. We trust that it will be soon.

As to people joining in the rescue operation, our small church has pledged to help another church in our area to drive up and deliver blankets and other needed supplies.

A teacher from our school (former emergency services staffer) will most likely join a Canadian rescue team that arrived this week. HOPE international, with whom we have been connected with over the years, is complementing a grass roots operation up in Sendai, and has sent a board member (medical doctor) to certify the many dead. People are doing what they can, including saving energy for the north by unplugging and turning off electricity as much as possible. The grocery shelves here are nearly bare of water and instant ramen:) (a Japanese noodle dish).

We do continue to pray that the nuclear power plant would come under a control that can be certified, that the weather would get better, that government officials would make wise decisions, and that the survivors and rescue teams would receive all that they need.

In His Grip,
Marcia & Koji

The Easki’s page on the PMI site:
http://pmiweb.org/ke.asp

[Editor’s note: One or more original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid; those links have been removed.]