Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

Thank you for all the love and concern that has been pouring in from friends and family!  As you all probably have heard, there was a massive earthquake off the coast of mainland Japan Friday, March 11.  Japan is the most earthquake-prepared country in the world, (as one of my Japanese host sister’s from Tokyo said regarding the earthquake in an email checking in with me, “…this is Japan”) but no one is able to adequately prepare for a major tsunami like the one that was triggered by this earthquake.  I’ve been in contact with most of my Japanese families in Tokyo and they are all fine.  It’s Sendai, two hours north of Tokyo by train, that has suffered the incredible devastation wrought by the tsunami.

Okinawa, where we live, is fortunately far enough south and west of the epicenter (off the coast of Sendai on mainland Japan) that we didn’t feel any of the earthquakes or aftershocks and didn’t even see any significant waves.  (Okinawa is actually located closer to China than it is to mainland Japan.)  Being two blocks from the East China Sea, we were under tsunami advisory for two days, but thankfully there wasn’t even a noticeable rise in the sea level.  We also live on the west side of Okinawa, so we are often more protected from significant adverse sea conditions in general.  So long story short – we’re completely out of harm’s way.

We ask that you continue to keep the people of Sendai and the surrounding area in your thoughts and prayers as they begin the long road to recovery.