Sunday, March 13, 2011

Earthquake

On Friday, March 11th, a huge earthquake and tsunami devastated the northeastern coast of Japan. Thank you everyone for all of the emails, facebook posts and calls to our family to check on our safety. They have made Michelle and I feel very loved. Michelle and I are perfectly safe, but many people are still stranded and tens of thousands are suffering without adequate food and water, so please keep them in your prayers. The Red Cross is also taking donations to help Japan and other areas in the Pacific Rim (http://american.redcross.org/) that were hit by the earthquake or tsunami.

When the earthquake hit mid-afternoon on Friday, I was in the gym practising with the basketball team. We didn't feel a thing, and were completely unaware that anything happened. About 30 minutes after the earthquake occurred, the city alarms came on and announcements were given. From here all the students were called in and teachers explained the situation and told the students to be careful when going home. In Yamaguchi Prefecture, where we live, there were only a few disruptions. Some of the trains on the Sanyo line, which run from the island of Kyushu all the way up to Tokyo, were shut down, and a wave surge about 50 cm (19.5 inches) high was recorded in our area Friday evening, but that was it. There have been no disruptions to electricity, internet access or anything else, and life here has seemed to be completely unaffected by the quake. 

Getting your geography straight in your own country is hard enough, so trying to keep track of things in a foreign country is next to impossible. We wanted to provide a map showing where we live in relation to the earthquake and tsunami. As you can see from the map below, we live quite far from any affected area. No scale has been provided on the map, but from where we live it is roughly 400 km (250 miles) to Osaka, 900 km (560 miles) to Tokyo and 1,200 km (750 miles) to Fukushima and Sendai, two of the hardest hit areas.

Again, thank you everyone for thinking of us, and please continue to keep those affected in your thoughts and prayers.

Love,
Brandon and Michelle

1 comment:

  1. Thanks, Bran, for posting the map and update. It is very helpful. Love you guys very much and we'll talk again soon. Be safe and God bless! mama fong

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