Destruction in Japan

I would just like to take the time to say how saddened I am by this tragedy that has struck Japan. I encourage everyone to help out by donating money, food, supplies, anything they can in order to help the individuals who are suffering at this time. I'm sure everyone knows by now that Japan was hit with an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 followed by a deathly tusnami. This is Japan's worst disaster since 1923 and now the devesation and death toll are being compared to WWII. The tusnami itself has taken out towns and villiages and it looks as if nothing had ever existed. The death toll is now over 3,000 and is estimated to reach a shocking 10,000. The destruction wasn't as bad in Tokyo compared to the rest of northern Japan however, it still did damage. Many civilians now fear the high amount of radiation and are worried about how stable the nuclear power plants are. After shocks are still being reported and are being rated higher than a magnitude of 6 which is still considered a big earthquake.

While I was in Tokyo my hostel was down the street from a little local bar called Longchamp II. A young beautiful Japanese woman named Yuko owned it. It was her opening night when we first arrived our group had been her first customers. We had made such good friends with her and most of us kept in contact with Yuko after we left, including myself. When I first heard about the earthquake and tusnami I immediately thought of her and if she was okay. The amazing things about social networks is how quickly messages get through to others even from a whole other part of the world. Yuko and I are facebook friends and after the news of what was going on in Japan I went on her page to see if she had updated any status's. To my suprise she had told everyone she was ok however she was still feeling a lot of the after shock. I had told her I was glad to know she was safe. Her concern was she had no idea if some of her friends or family members were safe which I'm sure was the concern of many.

What happened in Japan is beyond horrifying. You would have never thought such a disaster could actually happen. Many lives have been lost, people have been injured, villages have vanished, and now rescuers are still looking for any surviors. Again, any help to these people would be more than greatly appreciated. If you're intrested in doing so American Red Cross is always taking donations.