8.9 Quake + tsunamis strike Japan
 

Is anyone else watching this?!! :eek:

NY Times | Reuters | CNN | Yahoo!

Yes! It's crazy....Japan is getting blasted by a wall of debris from the tsunami. :(

.....Kelly :(

yeah. Talking to my cousin on facebook about it right now. Aftershocks are coming. In some schools there are cracks forming. Narita airport is closed according to Reuters. I'm flying out of Taiwan tomorrow with layover in Narita and Chicago. If Narita is not open then I'm FUUUUUUCKED.

Taiwan is supposed to be hit with tsunami tonight as well. :eek:

I can't even imagine what those people are going through.

Its really unfortunate that they're going through this. May God be with them :(

Yeah, I have a friend who lives in Japan, and she just checked in to let us know that she is doing okay. God, what next????????????? :eek: I pray that this is the last time they will have to endure this kind of disaster. :(

Hawaii is under the tsunami warning now, along with the whole west coast of the US and Canada.

As if the earthquake and tsunami weren't enough, there is a nuclear plant in Japan whose cooling system has failed and there is a warning related to that too.

Many prayers for many people along the Pacific Rim :(

We have an exchange student from Tokyo and she's trying to contact her family now.

This is just awful. I have a few good friends who live in Japan. I haven't heard from them yet, so I'm praying they are okay :(

The student's family is okay. I'm now watching the situation to see if the town of our former student in Chile will be hit by a tsunami from the quake; they live on the beach.

My cousin and her husband are in Maui for their anniversary. They have been evacuated and are sleeping in their car on high ground.

GCs fave Hawaiian is on high ground.

Orange County, CA is expecting a small tsunami in about 20 minutes. No one being evacuated, but people are warned to stay away from the shore. They have closed the beaches in Orange County, L.A. County beaches are still open. Northern CA under Tsunami Watch. Have TV on seeing what is happening.

DaffyKD

Wow - Just Wow! This is an unbelievably high on the Richter scale earthquake. Couple that with 23 ft. waves and it is a double whammy. Prayers to all over in Japan.

Hope CA and OR come out of this okay. I expect there will be some damage as they are expecting 6-8 foot waves. Prayers for the safety of our West Coast friends!

Yes, that's one heckuva earthquake. Japan is known for their well built earthquake resistant buildings, thank goodness. However, those waves were crazy.

Whatever we get in the US pales in comparison to Japan.

Good to hear.

Thanks for letting us know. I though about her and was hoping that she and the rest of the folks on the islands had enough time to get to safe locations.

.....Kelly :)

2:30am and finally made it back home from work. All major transportation systems and highways in Tokyo were/are down, 2km long line for taxis and buses, 1 to 2 mph average speed on packed local roads. Most people just walked home roughly following the railway tracks for hours. Looked like a scene out of a disaster movie. No hotel rooms left. Convenience stores sold out of all food.

Was on the 6th floor. Wild ride. Started small and just got steadily stronger. Never seen people so scared. Some just dropped to the floor not knowing what to do. Went down the stairwell in record time in the midst of snapping sounds and screeching metal and bits of plaster and whatnot falling on my head. 2 inch wide cracks in the foundation of the building I was in, but fortunately it didn't fall down. Just happy to be back home, even though I found all my possessions thrown all over the floor.

Some photos
In Focus

Link to the Photo

I've seen awful photos of fires all around the area from which we adopted BlazerCheer. We think that gas mains must have burst--anyway, we pray for her birth family, wherever they may be.

Last year's Japanese exchange student is safe as well. We still have to hear from the one from the year before but she lives in south central Japan so is probably okay.

ETA: our current student just found out that her grandparents' house in Sendai was flattened. Thank God they're alive.

Wow... just wow.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the affected areas.

holy shit buddy. Glad you are ok. I just got word that my brother that was near Tokyo area (I think) is safe and sound. I was watching the live feed on the news last night. Incredible and very scary.

Nature is a powerful thing...it can make us its bitch anytime.

My last 2 FB status updates?

"Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, tornadoes, volcanoes, super storms, hurricanes and blizzards. Let us never underestimate the power of Mother Nature. We will never destroy this Earth - only ourselves."

Followed by (after hearing about the nuclear plant issues):
"God bless the people in Japan, but especially those working at the nuclear power plants right now. They are being exposed to radiation that could cause acute illness, if not death. It is a good idea to keep a stock of iodine pills in your house, work, emergency pack, whatever. In the event of a nearby nuclear core meltdown, the "safe" iodine in the pills will saturate your thyroid so that the radioiodine that is released won't be absorbed."

That's good advice people! ABP!

I live in a nuclear power plant evacuation area and we get free iodine pills every 5 years for everybody in the household.

1. Aunt's family is safe but she can't find her friends.
2. Godfather's family and friends are safe.
3. Friend is safe but she can't find her friends and family.

I didn't realize how many loved ones (and friends of loved ones) I had in Japan until today when I started trying to track down everyone. :(

I didn't know until yesterday that Baby Berry's biological sister is working in Japan. She said that the big quake occurred when she was in the shower and she ran outside in a towel. (This would have been my younger sister's worst nightmare back in the day.)

Jenny's okay but terrified at the aftershocks. They slept with their shoes on last night in case they had to run out into the streets again.

I'm in the place where I can't tear myself away from the coverage of this disaster but I can't hardly comprehend how these people are functioning at all. Japan is, by all accounts, the MOST prepared country for disasters but the magnitude of this is just more than can be dealt with. The pictures of the wreckage, reports that 9500 people from one town alone are reported as missing, nuclear meltdown... it's just not even possible to meet people's needs in those circumstances.

They just announced that one may be in full meltdown now.

I am going to have to make myself stop watching it. I get so overwhelmed.. then when I stop watching, I feel guilty because these people living this can't just change the channel.

So much rioting and looting in the streets there in Japan. It's unbelievable. But it's understandable, that's what poor people do when their streets are flooded with water, right?

Crass.

FYP

Still deserved to be said. Can we send EW over to help with relief efforts?

STFU dude. If samething happens in US, gaurantee you that same thing would happen. It won't just be poor people.

ASSHAT.

Japan is a first world country like we are. Sendai is a large and beautiful city. I don't know what poverty has to do with any of this.:confused:

EW is suggesting that Japan somehow manages not to loot and riot, unlike our urban areas during, lets say... Katrina. It's thinly veiled racism.

Thing is, Japan not being prepared for earthquakes would be like my hometown not being prepared for a tornado. The fact that New Orleans was not prepared for a hurricane was the whole fucking point.

Not all urban areas.

Nashville did fine.
The point of...rioting and looting?

Haven't those poor people been through enough?

You know, you still haven't addressed the fact that your story about your pledging and membership is inconsistent. Going to keep running away from that?


Or you could just go back to your fratty forums where everyone will agree with you about those inferior minorities.

:rolleyes: