Prayers to Japan and others

[PinkCow]

My heart is definitely with Japan through all of this. I haven't heard from my host family from the time I spent living there yet.

[K2!]

[Greyhaunt]

For anyone so inclined, Lady Gaga (yes, Lady Gaga) has a Japan relief fund going. She is selling one of those rubber bracelets for $5 and all the procedes will go to Japan. You can also choose to donate at the same time as you purchase if you wish. http://www.ladygaga.com/news/default.aspx?nid=34654&aid=599&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=rss&utm_medium=News&utm_content=nid_34654

[TheHighlander]

I've watched the coverage of this all weekend. I'm an insomniac at the best of times, and Misheru was scheduled to have surgery on Friday, which just disrupted our 'schedule' further. I watched this unfold live and am deeply shocked by it all. I've always had a high regard for Japan and the Japanese people because they are always so orderly and civil in the face of trouble. Seeing the way that they as a nation have responded to this horrible tragedy has left me speechless with admiration that a people so hit by disaster and destruction can maintain their decorum and civilization.

I can't shake the terrifying images of a 4 story high wall of water obliterating a town, or a 30 inundation tearing across the land destroying everything in it's wake faster than cars can drive to escape. I have looked at far too many satellite images of what were once towns, too many video of Tsunamis in action, and read/listened to too many accounts of the destruction to know how to properly respond or express my grief for the Japanese people.

I've found myself angrier and angrier at the western media and their penchant for re-running the same disaster porn images, retreading the same sky-is-falling reporting of everything from the catastrophic damage to the nuclear energy facilities to the oil refinery fires. I was utterly offended by the orgy of reporting of the rather marginal impact of the tsunami in California. Yes, it happened, but on a relative scale with Japan, the impact in California was literally nothing.

Much of the reporting on the nuclear plants has been little more than scaremongering, and then the same interviews are repeated time and again, throwing gasoline on the flames of fear. Is that all we can do now? Scaremonger?

What of the incredible stories coming out of Japan? What of the fact that the nuclear facilities survived both a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a 50 foot tsunami? Perhaps the most amazing thing of all is that the facilities are still standing and there's even a chance that they can be controlled? How would our nuclear facilities on the US west coast fare with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake? Even after the cataclysmic earthquake and Tsunami, much of Japan is operational. There infrastructure as badly hit as it is, continues to operate as well as it can, and that to me is a miracle. Only Japan could experience such an earthquake and Tsunami and still be intact afterward. Where are the reports of the incredible stories of people who escaped the destruction by following their evacuation plans? Where are the stories about the civil defense planning that has so far enabled the distribution of food fresh water in many areas? There are so many negatives that can be talked of here, the death, destruction, economic impacts and so on. But there are more positives, it's just that our media seems to be fixated on the negative and incapable of discussing the positive.

Let's look at it this way. Japan's pre-planning and sea defenses bought hundreds of thousands of people the time they needed to escape. Japan's comprehensive construction codes have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and livelihoods by enabling millions of structures to survive the fifth largest earthquake on record. Japan's social structure and social contract will save thousands of lives and millions of livelihoods as the nation comes together in response to the disaster not by looting it's way back to the stone age, but by helping those in need, by remaining orderly despite the total breakdown of normal life and above all by maintaining a sense of community and fellow feeling that has everyone sharing their resources to aid each other. Being selfless instead of selfish.

I know that today the extent of the loss of life is becoming clearer. The death toll is rising, and people are beginning to comprehend the scale of what has happened. I think we need to take our lesson from the people of Japan and stand with them, they are showing how well humanity can react at a time of dire consequence. Such a pity that our media hasn't figured this out yet.

[K2!]

I couldn't agree with you more, Highlander. Their (the Japanese people/government) foresight, planning, and sacrificing no doubt saved thousands. I wish our government cared as much about us.

[Greyhaunt]

I kept comparing what I was seeing to what happened in New Orleans. No stories of looting or fighting or killing - just people helping people, standing quietly in line to get what they could receive - it was an example to the world.

I think the moment that pissed me off the most was footage they kept showing of the oil refinery that caught fire and exploded. It wasn't the footage that made me angry, but the dumbass fratboy stupidity of the person who took the film shouting WHOO HOO, and "This is crazy." like he was watching some sort of concert performance. It was disgusting to listen to over and over and over again.

[yah]

Hello

Small earthquakes arrive every hour since first strike. It is bit stressful.

I uploaded some photos to my webspace.
*caution: Chiba is distanced from center of earthquake, and those photos are worst point (maybe..).

my room:


My dolls can stand up by themselves in situation of magnitude 3 or 4.
but, this case is 9, and they were bombed by parts box and my PC.

Around my home:
I live in the town near to sea.
Tsunami is not effective in this area, but..








Many sections of road, parking space, and other surface is cracked, and. gray mud spouted from those gaps.
It is known as "Ekijouka" (Soil liquefaction, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_liquefaction).




Some gaps are deep



Railway was stopped by the problem of power supply.
(Today (Mar.14), the reactor #2 of Fukushima power plant is very close to meltdown. )

Many stores were closed since X-day.
Some store start again today, but their stock of food is low. I can feel some reason.

I'm working in food factory that located in Funabashi, the town near to Chiba. Our production line was damaged by huge earthquake. To repair it, need more 1 or 2 days.
Many food factories around our factory were damaged too.
They are food supplier for convenience store and other store.

finally:
The situation is not good, but the season of cherry blossom is coming.

[Geektopian]

Having grown up in an area where earthquakes and soil liquefaction are serious threats, Yah's photos gave me a chill. Then, I just considered how amazing it was that there's evidence of liquefaction everywhere and yet the buildings and infrastructure all look intact. Damn awesome engineering there. Probably saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

[hanabushi]

Dear Gods, Yah, I'm just glad you're all right. *shudders**

This has been a horror. If I knew of a disaster relief plane taking volunteers I'd be on that bad boy as fast as I could pack a bag and run. -.-

Another sound donation site follows:
http://members.canpan.info/kikin/produc ... ct_id=1080

Ganbatte, Nihon.

K2, your "card" brought me to tears. In a good way. If it can be good. It's beautiful. May I share it on Facebook?

[TheHighlander]

I kept comparing what I was seeing to what happened in New Orleans. No stories of looting or fighting or killing - just people helping people, standing quietly in line to get what they could receive - it was an example to the world.

I think the moment that pissed me off the most was footage they kept showing of the oil refinery that caught fire and exploded. It wasn't the footage that made me angry, but the dumbass fratboy stupidity of the person who took the film shouting WHOO HOO, and "This is crazy." like he was watching some sort of concert performance. It was disgusting to listen to over and over and over again.

^^^^
This.

Yes, definitely. That was one of the elements of the coverage that has disgusted me most. There were other examples where instead of spending time showing us meaningful information and pointing viewers in the direction of ways to help, the news channels are instead showing cellphone video shot by Americans in Japan, and interviewing those people as if they were actual journalists on the ground in Japan. I'd rather have the local Japanese news channels subtitled or dubbed, at least then we might see what's going on instead of watching from fratboy's video of a refinery going up in flames, that he posted to You Tube in the hopes of getting noticed by some news network...