The Chilean Earthquake and Feast of Purim

When the big earthquake measuring 8.8 hit Chile on February 27, 2010 a friend of mine asked me whether I think the earthquake had anything to do with the Feast of Purim celebrated in Israel and among the Jews on that day. My initial reaction was that the two events have no relationship at all.  However, recent research uncovered seems to point to a linkage after all.

The Feast of Purim    is celebrated each year on the 13th day of the 12th month (Adar) - Esther 9 and this year the feast day started at sunset on February 27 and ended at sunset on February 28. The feast was in commemoration of how God rescued the entire Jewish race from extermination at the hands of Haman, a wicked descendent of the Philistines who was the prime minister at that time in the Persian. His evil plot was uncovered by Mordecai, the adopted father of Queen Esther (he was actually an older cousin of hers) who then got the Queen to go to the king to negate the royal decree (the full account of how the plot was overturned is in Esther 9). In the end the tables were turned - Haman was hung and the Jews turned and got rid of all the supported of Haman and they scored a major victory. So the Jews to this day would celebrate the Feast by giving gifts that symbolizes life.

Chile hosts the LARGEST community of Palestinians outside of Israel. This community is located between Concepcion (the epicenter of the Chilean earthquake) and the capital of Chile, Santiago, which lies north of Concepcion. According to wikipedia, Concepcion has a "twin city," which usually means a sister city in some way, such as through trade agreements or partnerships. Concepcion has listed as a "twin city," Bethlehem in Israel.

  
The Chilean earthquake at 8.8 was the 5th strongest on record. THE strongest earthquake ever recorded was in Chile in 1960 and is called the Valdivia earthquake because the epicenter was near Valdivia. Here is an interesting bit of synchronicity: Valdivia was named after its founder, Pedro de Valdivia, and Valdivia also founded Concepcion and Santiago.
And we all know the recent Palestinian riots in the West Bank of Israel arising from the Israeli government declaring the Tomb of Rachel which is in Bethlehem as an Israeli heritage site. Bethlehem is in the West Bank and governed by the Palestinian Authority. And we also know the intent of the Palestinians - to 'wipe out the State of Israel' - as stated by its late leader Yasser Arafat (sounds familiar as similar words were spoken by another leader of Philistine descent).