This is so sad. I grew up in Japan, spent 12 years there (my dad is a retired Marine).
Watching this seems unreal.
Daniel
on March 11, 2011 at 8:47 am
Got a call at 7am from the local police saying to get to higher ground. Not a fun way to wake up.
Susie
on March 11, 2011 at 5:12 pm
I just heard that the city of Minamasoma, Japan is a “city swept away”. All the houses, cars, etc. are gone. The overhead video taken just shows water as far as you can see. The population’s over 72,000, and it’s not clear if there are any survivors.
The videos I’ve seen today from Japan are truly heartbreaking…
Dwip
on March 11, 2011 at 8:08 pm
What a nightmare. It’s hard to even believe it’s really happening, the destruction is so extreme.
I doubt very much the entire population of Minamasoma has been wiped out. The Japanese are very much aware they live in a geologically unstable part of the world. They hold disaster drills every few months, and their building codes are extremely strict. As soon as the earthquake had ended, the population would have started evacuating the town almost immediately.
While their excessive preparedness might not have helped those who had lost their lives in the disaster, it definitely saved a huge number of lives that otherwise would have been lost as well.
I wish all the best to the people of Japan.
New to LA
on March 14, 2011 at 7:47 pm
We recently spent several years living in Tokyo. I did not feel very confident in the ability of the Japanese to cope with something like this and hoped it would not happen while we were there. Yes, the Japanese have a plan … you just hope the earthquake will follow the plan. In this case it didn’t.
I have many friends still in Tokyo and I know some have left with their kids to go back to their home country. They will wait it out away from the chaos and possible radiation. Unfortunately not everyone has that choice.
This is so sad. I grew up in Japan, spent 12 years there (my dad is a retired Marine).
Watching this seems unreal.
Got a call at 7am from the local police saying to get to higher ground. Not a fun way to wake up.
I just heard that the city of Minamasoma, Japan is a “city swept away”. All the houses, cars, etc. are gone. The overhead video taken just shows water as far as you can see. The population’s over 72,000, and it’s not clear if there are any survivors.
The videos I’ve seen today from Japan are truly heartbreaking…
What a nightmare. It’s hard to even believe it’s really happening, the destruction is so extreme.
I doubt very much the entire population of Minamasoma has been wiped out. The Japanese are very much aware they live in a geologically unstable part of the world. They hold disaster drills every few months, and their building codes are extremely strict. As soon as the earthquake had ended, the population would have started evacuating the town almost immediately.
While their excessive preparedness might not have helped those who had lost their lives in the disaster, it definitely saved a huge number of lives that otherwise would have been lost as well.
I wish all the best to the people of Japan.
We recently spent several years living in Tokyo. I did not feel very confident in the ability of the Japanese to cope with something like this and hoped it would not happen while we were there. Yes, the Japanese have a plan … you just hope the earthquake will follow the plan. In this case it didn’t.
I have many friends still in Tokyo and I know some have left with their kids to go back to their home country. They will wait it out away from the chaos and possible radiation. Unfortunately not everyone has that choice.