I've been glued to the TV every time I'm in the apartment because of the tsunami and earthquakes in Japan. There's just so much gone wrong, it's overwhelming. I pray that God will use this horrible tragedy for good in that country. I mean, it's crazy that in one city alone they had over 9,500 people reported missing, that the waves destroyed houses, boats, cars, and more. Nuclear power plants are out of commission - will there be radiation poisoning? The things that people are reliant on are out of commission: trains, roads, grocery store. Northern Honshu seems hardest hit. 4.6 million people don't have power, and so don't have hit and it'll be cold tonight. Ben sent me this article with many initial pictures and it's just shocking.
I have friends in Japan, I've sent a few some e-mail, and I haven't heard back from all of them, but I've heard from two that they and their friends are ok, praise God. My friend Taka lives in Tokyo, and he said that he just crouched under a table and was ok. A missionary couple sent out an e-mail that a lot of people have lost their homes, but that they're ok. It's great how connected the internet can make us in times of disaster; people might not have enough food in some places, but they can use technology to get help for that. We can also hear almost immediately somewhat what is happening. Even if you don't have tv, you can follow it live.I follow an English teacher's blog, and this is what he experienced: http://www.jadij.com/2011/03/big-one.html
This makes me want to go to Japan for a whole other reason than my last post. You see, in my mind, Japan is a very self-reliant, modern country. But even a country like Japan can be brought to its knees by nature. That shouldn't surprise me, given the beating America has taken in the last few years. But it's Japan. Earthquakes are normal, right? Not an 8.9 earthquake.
It's good to know that people are already on their way to help Japan. The Baptist Global Response has a twitter site set up to follow their efforts: http://twitter.com/gobgr and there's a link there to donate for the tsunami relief. CNN.com also has a really good list of ways to help: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/11/tsunami-aid-and-relief-how-you-can-help/?hpt=T1
I'm donating to the Japan Earthquake And Tsunami Relief Fund.
Sorry for how rambling this post is. But I felt like I needed to write something about this.
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