Is this the beginning of the end? - Some think so

Some of the apocalyptic scenes in the aftermath of one of the biggest earthquakes on record, has had many armchair theologians confidently pointing to bible prophecies which suggest that the recent events throughout the world can only mean one thing - the end is dangerously close.

Conversations, which inevitably focus on the weather in normal circumstances, were displaced by the talk of doom and gloom and the Japanese quake and tsunami has done nothing to dispel the thoughts and, for many, the hopes that a better existence lies ahead with the destruction of the earth as we know it.

One local mother said her son had been asked by his school to write a story on a recent natural disaster.

“Normally, you would get one tragedy to write about, but we counted seven in a short space of time. It makes you wonder that it may be some sort of omen and that perhaps we are living in a time of uncertainty regarding the future of our planet,” she said.

Of course, many feel that despite man’s great advances in technology and scientific knowledge, the continuing destruction of the planet by carbon emissions and man’s general wastefulness, there are greater forces at work and the earthquake and subsequent tsunami which has left tens of thousands dead and a country facing a clean up operation of gigantic proportions, deeply illustrates the fragility of the planet and the firm belief by many that it transmits a chilling biblical warning.

The New Zealand earthquake and the floods in Australia have only just faded from our television screens. In 2010 the catalogue of disasters were stark with the Russian heatwave claiming 56,000 lives, and the floods and mudslides in Brazil leaving many dead.

Of course there was also the drought in China and, most notably, the Haiti earthquake that stunned the world.