Only a matter of a week ago we drew attention to the fact that owing to the proximity of the New Moon as well as numerous major planetary alignments there was a heightened risk of increased earthquake activity in those areas of the world vulnerable to such events. In the event our suspicions were extremely well founded and the last week has seen an incredible spate of large earthquakes throughout the planet. In Japan for example a major quake of at least 6.7 magnitude led to numerous deaths as well as widespread disruption with many homes destroyed. It also led to a serious fire at a nuclear power plant with the leakage of contaminated water into the nearby sea.