Japan's Earthquake/Tsunami

I come rolling into work at about five thirty this morning, at the same time as the cake decorator who is usually there at about eight in the morning. Usually I’m there by myself until eight in the morning when the bakery opens. Before we can even put our coats on the coat rack, he says, “Have you been watching the news?” and I’m thinking, I haven’t even had time to comb my hair let alone watch the news, but I just said no I have not. He then informed me that an 8.9 earthquake utterly devastated Japan that afternoon already, which caused a 23 foot tsunami to wipe out Tokyo and other cities along that coast, reaching far inland. We then turned the radio to Fox News and they informed us that Hawaii, California, and some other coasts would be getting effects of the tsunami later in the morning and that Hawaii was expected to be getting up to six foot waves, and California perhaps three feet.  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! All I could think about was how terrible this is and what kind of devastation these survivors must feel loosing family members, friends, and their homes like that. Their whole world got turned upside down in one day. Over 200 people were reported dead but the rescuers know that the death toll is climbing higher as deceased are being discovered in the wreckage. According to Fox News, “The official casualty toll was 236 dead, 725 missing and 1,028 injured, although police said 200-300 bodies were found along the coast in Sendai, the biggest city in the area. Authorities said they weren't able to reach the area because of damage to the roads.” Japan had to declare a state of emergency after they had discovered that five nuclear reactors had lost the ability to cool down, fearing that there may be a nuclear meltdown. They have set up about 33 shelters for families of survivors who have nowhere to go because their homes have been destroyed. About ten billion dollars worth of damages is reported right now and the number could become much higher. As soon as the earthquake began the school children knew to put on their protective earthquake gear and duck under their desks because Japan is in the ninetieth percentile of where earthquakes occur. In 2004 they also had another devastating earthquake, causing a tsunami from the Indian Ocean that killed about 230,000 people. Right now I am thankful to be living in the middle of the United States. I was talking about the earthquake to the Cintas uniform man who brings the bakery towels this morning and he said that he heard on the radio that over one-hundred small earthquakes have been reported in the United States this year but have not been released to the press because they were not of high enough magnitude. I think that is a pretty scary thought if that is true, but I’m not sure if it is. All I can say as that my heart goes out to the families in Japan, even though it doesn’t really help them at all. I wish that I could take back all of the pain and suffering that they have been through and will go through because of this terrible earthquake.