I’ve never seen Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 but I know it’s appropriate right now
I rarely do news posts since I can’t get them out promptly and there are many others far more skilled at gathering up-to-date information and links than I am. But since the recent disaster in Japan hit so close to home (in my heart I mean), I just couldn’t ignore it…
As I’m sure you’re all aware of by now, on the afternoon of March 11th (JST), Japan was struck by the largest earthquake ever since records began 140 years ago. It was an 8.9, now the fifth largest earthquake in history, and it was followed swiftly by a devastating 10-meter tsunami along the northeastern coast that swept away everything in its path. Currently the death toll is expected to exceed 1,000 and who knows how many injured or missing.
This video gives a good idea of the extent of the devastation. You can also see a playlist of raw footage of the earthquake submitted by citizens on YouTube’s CitizenTube here. The anime side of things doesn’t seem to be affected too badly, with only some episode delays and event cancellations.
Like every other major disaster that happens in the world, this is absolutely horrible and saddening. After hearing about the terrible floods in Australia and overall catastrophic weather in the world right now, I can’t help but feel guilty that I’m sitting here in summer clothing in lovely southern California, with the sun out and a cool breeze blowing through my window carrying the scent of the orange blossoms that are blooming around my house.
Not that I can’t relate somewhat to natural disasters, though not even close to this extreme. Any mention of earthquakes makes me remember the 1994 Northridge earthquake that happened right here in LA county. I was 9 years old at the time and I remember cowering under my bed covers when the earthquake struck in the middle of the night. Thankfully our house didn’t receive much damage – just a few broken glass items, messed up shelves, cracks, and a dislodged cabinet. We were without electricity for a good amount of time but ours was the only house in the immediate area that had running water. Other buildings and roads in the neighborhood didn’t fare so well though.
The Northridge earthquake is really the only natural disaster I’ve been caught up in (thank goodness and knock on wood), and being a kid at the time, once the initial fear was over I was more fascinated by it than upset. Other than that, all we have to deal with in southern California is mildly bad wind or rain once in a while and merciless heat in the summertime. In the big scheme of things, nothing that bad (I’ve never even seen snow). Hearing news like this from other places makes me feel ashamed whenever I feel like complaining because the weather is a chilly 50 degrees F (which is SoCalifornians’ idea of cold) or if I have to get a little wet from the rain or have to scrape a bit of frost off my car windshield.
Anyway, I’m relieved to hear that 2DT and other people I know currently in Japan are okay. My sympathy goes out to everyone whose life has been damaged by the earthquake and/or tsunami. But I am glad that the technology nowadays makes it quick and easy for people around the world to know about and donate to disasters like this via Twitter, text messaging, and cable TV, whereas fifty years ago maybe a few people might hear news like this via one or two newspaper ads a day or so later. The fact that the death toll is relatively low, and many of Tokyo’s tall buildings were built in such a way that all they did was wobble rather collapse, shows that Japan was built well in preparation for such disasters. So “ganbatte” Japan! I believe in you~
I heard about this last night from Alesia, but it boggles my mind to think of something so awful. D: I don’t know if it’s because of my affection for Japan, its people, and culture, but somehow this also hits close to home for me. I blogged about it as well, but I still have a kind of sick feeling in my stomach about it. I’m very thankful that all of my friends in Japan are safe and okay, though, and I’m glad yours are too~
This has me thinking about how one of the professors at UCI who specializes in seismic activity and earthquake preparedness, does research that points to a similar large earthquake inevitably happening here on the West coast, and especially after seeing the footage of the damage in Japan, the possibility scares the crap out of me even more than it did before… >_<
But those affected in these disasters also have my prayers, condolences, and whatever else I can offer to go along with your sympathy. I join you in saying I believe that Japan will recover and do all it can to take care of its people. I wish them all the best~
I’m also relieved that the people we know from Japan (including many people from the anime/manga industry) are alive and well.
I have a feeling the West Coast will have another earthquake sooner or later, but all we can hope for is that it won’t be too devastating. If it’s gonna happen it’s gonna happen so try not to worry about it too much =)
This is true… but I’m such a worrier when it comes to these things. >_< You're right though, so I will take your advice and try not worry so much. But I *do* wish I had your calm logic; my personality is sometimes too volatile to deal with things rationally. ^ ^
I don’t watch TV at all, so I was shocked to hear at school about Japan. My best friend said “Japan is destroying our world!” and when I asked why, she told me about the earthquake and the aftermath that is could possibly inflict on our country. I felt like slapping her after that because I was almost in tears hearing her blame Japan for causing the earthquake and tsunami. (How can a country cause something like that?! Better yet, why would they want to?! And who cares about America right now?!)
It’s so sad to see what damage this horrible earthquake caused. Millions of innocent people who did absolutely nothing wrong have now lost their homes. Others have lost their own lives, or the life of a loved one or friend. The people of Japan are crying, worrying, and are in shock over the events that occurred just hours ago. And like you stated in your post, it feels awful to be sitting at home when there are people in need and without homes now, and it’s something that really pulls at your heartstrings knowing that a culture, people, and country you so deeply respect and admire is in chaos and despair.
I think all we can do now is hope and pray that things get fixed up and that everyone effected by this mess gets back on track and is safe.
Thank you so much for your sympathies.
I can’t believe your friend would say something like that as if the Japanese people had control over earthquakes in their country. Nobody can plan or control natural disasters in their state/country. That’s just ridiculous. One would think she said that as a sick joke and wasn’t serious, but from what you say it sounds like she was serious XP
I always feel so strange looking at videos of huge earthquakes and other natural disasters. We have small earthquakes here all the time but they’re so small we usually don’t even notice them, and if we do it’s just a tiny shake and then gone. Worst stuff is a house or two getting bangled up if it’s right by where they originate. So it’s hard for me to imagine what it’s like when real huge earthquakes hit, but this many people injured and dead leaves me with a chill.
Go Japan though, they’ll pull through it somehow.
The 1994 earthquake that I experienced was certainly nothing compared to this one. We see all these videos and photos and we want to imagine what it’s like, but we really can’t unless we’ve been there. You want to be able to know what it’s like, but of course you don’t want it to actually happen to you. It is a strange feeling indeed.
It is a very strange feeling. It’s the feeling of wanting to know what happens if you do/experience something you know would hurt or not be good but you’re curious about what it’s like. There should be a word for this feeling >.<
(just wrote a post on this.)
It really is awful. Haiti had it really bad as well, but they didn’t have any nuclear troubles.
I haven’t experienced any natural disasters, so I can’t sympathize in that aspect. But I can relate to losing loved ones. I really hope that the death toll doesn’t rise and everyone makes it out all right.
Pray for Japan. Not anime. Japan.
Saw your post – I’m glad that so many people in the anime blogging community are writing their thoughts about this. I can’t believe people are complaining because the disaster is causing delays in anime releases. One of the times I’m ashamed to be associated with fellow fans >_>
I hope things get better soon, and they can fix all the nuclear plants and infrastructure quickly. I live in a place where we get frequent quakes as well, but I cannot even begin to imagine what such a strong quake is like (and I hope I never do). So a “get well soon” to all Japan and I hope a quake like that does not happen again.
I’ve been praying and praying for the people of Japan since I heard about the earthquake. I can’t imagine going through something like this–the only natural disasters I’ve dealt with have been a bit of flooding from tropical storms, and just a bit of the wind/rain from Hurricane Charlie. That’s it for me.
I also feel bad how theres all this bad stuff happening in other parts of the world yet here it is nice and sunny outside here in Arizona. We never really get earthquakes here, only minor aftershocks on the CA border but thats it. (We have out fair share of other disasters though. Wildfires, drought, flashfloods…)
I hope Japan will be able to recover alright after this, my heart goes out to everyone (and not just those involved with the anime industry). Then I also hope they get those nuclear plants under control soon, which i’m really beginning to worry about. The Japanese are having a hard enough time as it is, so I really hate to see more problems arise and more people added to the death toll.
Then what really irks me is that some people have the nerve to say things like how Japan deserved this. Then you have people going as far as to compare the recent earthquake to the destruction of Pearl Harbor, and saying its revenge for that. Jesus how I want to smack people! Apparently they have forgotten how we Americans dropped the bomb on them, so I think its safe to say that both sides are already even (and both events are best left in the past, I mean it was our grandparents who did all that, not the current generation!)
Then heres an interesting bit of irony. If a nuclear blast helped kick start the evolution of modern anime/manga (during the rebuilding of Japan after WWII I mean), a nuclear disaster could end it…I *really* hope that doesn’t happen.