While I'm 100% sure there's nothing I can say here that will be more interesting or useful than anything the other 9 bazillion bloggers on the interwebs have already said about this, I want to talk for a brief moment about the earthquake slash tsunami slash nuclear disaster in Japan.
Last week, last Thursday night, to be exact, Jay and I happened to put on the news for a bit around 10:30 p.m. (not a normal occurance in our abode, as we get most of our news online or from Comedy Central) and were shocked and horrified to learn about the then-labeled 8.9, now confirmed as a magnitude 9 Tōhoku earthquake in the waters off the shore of Japan. We became still more horrified as we watched early footage of the tsunami and the flooding. For the past week, my friends and I have watched in shock and disbelief as heart-wrenching videos have spilled all over the internet, depicting the devastating flooding and horrible destruction left behind from the tsunami. I don't even know what to say about the terrifying state of affairs surrounding the six nuclear power stations that are compromised and leaking radiation into the air.
The whole thing is horrific. It makes me think back to 2005 when, one year after I moved to North Carolina, Louisiana was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. I remember how devastating it was, how terrible, how heartbreaking. It's unbelievable when you stop and think for just a minute how much worse this situation in Japan is. According to Wikipedia, at least 1,836 people died in Hurricane Katrina and in the subsequent floods, but there was another U.S. hurricane, the Okeechobee in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Florida in September 1928, that did even more damage.
Wikipedia also reports that the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami have collectively claimed 5,692 lives and left 2,409 injured and 9,522 missing across seventeen prefectures. The earthquake has been named one of the five most powerful in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900.
I think everyone I know has been following this story pretty closely as it has unravelled, despite the fact that Japan seems pretty far away to most people in the United States. One thing I've noticed, though, is that if you live on the west coast, it doesn't seem quite so far away - for several reasons. One, we share an ocean, despite its vastness, so Japan feels like a neighbor now in a way it didn't before. Two, LOTS of people who live in the Seattle area are Japanese or have friends or family members in Japan. In my humble circle, I knew about 8 people this week who were waiting anxiously to hear if their loved ones in Japan were okay. One of those people was my boss, whose significant other was stuck in Tokyo for most of this time. Lastly, I live in a highly geologically sensitive area - I don't think I have to tell you how perfectly poised Seattle, Washington is for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions - so it doesn't seem so impossible that something like this could happen a little closer to home. Or AT home.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not suddenly afraid to live in Seattle because of the situation in Japan. But it's a lot harder to focus on other things while this is going on than maybe it might have been if I still lived in North Carolina.
Like everyone else in the world, my heart goes out to the people of Japan, and I'll be watching with hope that people are found, homes are rebuilt and this nuclear situation is resolved quickly.
If you haven't seen this video yet, please take a few minutes to watch. It's pretty scary stuff, but also, pretty amazing. The power of our planet never ceases to terrify and astound me.
On a superfluous and deeply selfish note (cue the first-world problems), may I just say that with my last two moves, to North Carolina and to Washington, I've said, "Hey! Now I live close enough to visit New Orleans!" and "Hey! Now it'll be cheaper to finally fly to Tokyo!" And both times, natural disasters struck. I've been all over the country, but not to New Orleans, and I'm guessing Japan's not happening anytime soon, either. Maybe this is yet another sign I need to quit moving!
The truth is, there's no safe place. We should all stop thinking about once-in-a-thousand-years events and instead think about how to develop in a way that doesn't fall apart when the absolute worst happens. I take some solace that Seattle isn't on the ocean. We have building codes that means our modern structures, for the most part, can bend with the earth when it moves.
But we cannot plan for everything.
Posted by: Jay | March 17, 2011 at 08:48 PM
The whole situation is just too horrific to think about. Seriously, I can't handle it! My mind starts to think about the women at the end of their pregnancies or with newborns. Or all those people who were in the hospital. One thing is for sure, it's gonna be a LONG time before I complain about my lot in life or about the weather!
Posted by: Julie | March 18, 2011 at 07:33 AM