Earthquake & Tsunami in Japan Thread

[duck walk]

oh boy...what a mess! The loss of life in the end is going to be staggaring...those nuclear plants that are out of hand at the moment are another scary thing...I would think building them in a place like Japan that has so much earth quake activity was a bit of a mis adventure...as in dumb...

People tend to forget the planet is not stagnant but ever evolving...we get complacent and arrogant in our pursuits...and if I heard a tsunami was headed toward my position, the last thing I would be doing would be grabbing a camera or a surf board and heading to go see it or ride it in...I would be grabbing my butt with both hands and tearing to the high ground...probably with a goose under each arm...

 

[Justino]

So sad... http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/11/five-ways-you-can-help-earthquake-and-tsunami-victims-in-japan/

 

[Ema]

I am watching dateline NBC and I am in shock by all the images, its just so sad... my heart feels so heavy. I just watched the highway in Sendai (sp) being washed away with all those cars and more likely people in them, and as od 1/2 hour ago my friend still hasn't heard from her boyfriend and his 2 friends.

On another note, a friend of mine that lives down the street, a published author and highly educated woman, just made the worst comment on FB, made me really angry, She said Japan is being paid back for killing all those whales...I didn't know what to post in reply to that I just left it be, but no one deserves something like this for any reason. I just thought that comment to be incredibly narrow minded.

 

[debilorrah]

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OMG that is horrible. That is not simply narrowed minded, that is mean.

 

[Ema]

Quote:
OMG that is horrible. That is not simply narrowed minded, that is mean.

yes you are very right about that, very insensitive to be honest, someone already gave her a good tongue lashing!! Doubt she will see it till morning. I just can't believe someone could say that!!

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
OMG that is horrible. That is not simply narrowed minded, that is mean.

yes you are very right about that, very insensitive to be honest, someone already gave her a good tongue lashing!! Doubt she will see it till morning. I just can't believe someone could say that!!

Rudeness like that cannot be respected. Unbelievable.

 

[chickenX]

a humble story from the west coast in the wake of japan's tragedy.

i live very close to the los angeles river, which empties into the pacific ocean. my friend sandi and i walk alongside it often as there's a fantastic biking/walking path that goes for miles and miles - all the way down to the beach.
well today, given the obvious, we didn't go anywhere near to the actual coast - in fact we remained at least a mile from it.
at any rate, we were walking and talking, a subdued mood hanging between us, when in mid-sentence sandi stopped dead, pointed at the river and said, "the ducks are floating backwards." we paused, dumbfouded and stared. the force of the waves from the tsunami was causing the river to flow in the opposite direction.
the los angeles river was flowing upstream.

perhaps, just reading these words on a computer screen, it seems like not such a big deal? but let me assure you that there is a particular sensation of the uncanny, and not just a little discomfort to see a river flowing in the 'wrong' direction.
so we watched, mostly in silence for several minutes, along with others who were gathering to gaze at the water with nervous curiosity.

eventually we resumed our walking, but with a slightly altered mood hanging about us - still serious, but with some strangeness and wonder wafting about . . . and then, just a few meters beyond where we had perched to peer at the water we noticed a distressed sea gull hopping along the concrete river bed, his severely broken wing dragging along the ground.

well, both sandi and i do a little bit of animal rescue work, but typically we deal with domestic animals, cats, rabbits, dogs, chickens. yet we knew we had to at least try to help the poor bird.
one can of mackerel and an hour later we had a certainly frightened, but perhaps slightly relieved gull inside a cat carrier. and then we were in the car and on our way to a saint of a local vet who accepts wildlife for rehabilitation . . .

now i understand that contrasted against the sheer horror, the overwhelming massiveness of the human tragedy playing out in japan, that to save the life of one gull seems . . . pathetic.
but you know what?
after watching the images coming out of japan this morning, after feeling those intense sensations of helplessness, of wanting to be able to "do something" and not having any power whatsoever---there was something hopeful, something comforting, something just slightly powerful in being able to help that single bird.

there really was.

my prayers and thoughts continue to go out to everyone around the globe impacted by the disaster.
and i hope yours are too.

 

[welsummerchicks]

It wasn't just about helping the bird - that bird helped you to connect with people thousands of miles away who are struggling to survive and recover, who otherwise might just seem like pictures on a tv screen.

Amazing what animals can do, isn't it?

Life is truly full of unfathomable mysteries and sadness at times.

 

[chickened]

I guess killing whales caused Japan to be built on active volcanic islands and faults also. Those people like her make me puke.
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[San]

When I turned the tv on yesterday morning first thing, that hit my mind was Haiti... we lost a colleague who was there with his wife to get there adopted childeren... they found them holding on together in they're room all 4 of them, they've just picked up the kids and spent 24h together as a family,....dead. God I'm kinda feeling like crying when I look at the pics and videos of what happend in Japan. So devastated to see, place and village's swept away like it's nothing. And I know that Japan is THE country that is well prepared for earthquakes , but no one's prepared to take a run in 15 minutes. My heart breaks to see all these people and animals, lost in their own country.....

I am truly blessed to live in my country where we don't know this much of natural violence, just a storm one and a while. My thought are with those people in Japan and for those who'm my have lost someone up there.