The Japan Earthquake.

[sechan19]

I woke this morning, as most of us did, to reports that a massive earthquake had struck off the coast of Honshu--some 200+ kilometers northeast of Tokyo.

So far, I've heard from most of my loved ones in and around Tokyo. I'm still waiting to hear from my Japanese family in Tochigi Prefecture, which has the advantage of being a landlocked prefecture but is still well within the centrally affected area.

Japan, of course, has some of the most advanced earthquake prevention technology and infrastructure, and I believe we'll see the results of that in the death toll. Even one death is lamentable, but less powerful earthquakes than this (and their resultant tsunamis) have killed hundreds of thousands of people, and that will not be the case here--a fact for which I am profoundly grateful.

The damage will be extensive, however. People will have lost more than I can imagine, and my heart goes out to them. Nevertheless, I am confidant that the rebuilding will be steady and sure, and that the indomitable will of the Japanese people that I have always admired will carry them through.

Still. I can't even begin to express my anxiety and sadness.

Comments

[firynze.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

I need to figure out how to get in touch with my Japanese family in Sapporo and make sure that no one was down south this week.

[reteva.livejournal.com]

Have you heard from all your loved ones yet?

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Everyone I'm in touch with is safe and sound, thank god.

You?

[reteva.livejournal.com]

My people are all safe and sound, too, although a few of them are only sixty miles south of the currently melting-down reactors.

I'm still pretty worried, to be told.

Very glad to hear about your friends/family. I feel like I've been relatively lucky, though I know some people who haven't. It's just so terribly heartbreaking.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

And rightfully worried, I'd say. If anywhere can take care of the reactor problems, it's Japan, but it's still reactor problems.

Fortunately, most everyone I know (and am still in touch with) is still in Sapporo, if they're in Japan - many are in England and LA now. Hokkaido was, blessedly, spared nearly all the fallout from this. Sendai had some issues, but that was about as far north as the damage extended.