God bless Japan.

As most of you know, an 8.9 magnitude (richter scale) earthquake hits 130 km off Sendai yesterday around 2:46PM local time, triggering a massive tsunami. I didn’t follow the aftermath through the internet 2 hours after.

The first thing I did was make sure all my twitter buddies are safe, and then tried to make a call to friends whom cell phone numbers I had in hand. I found out soon enough ALL cellular networks are down and people are forced to queue all around Tokyo for free public phone use. Miraculously, however, internet service was up and twitter was on steam.

Around 11:30PM Japan time, I tuned into NHK live streaming and saw what I described to my husband as hell on earth. Kesenuma City, Miyagi was on fire. My twitter friend told me that the tsunami had distributed oil spill all over the city and triggered fire all over the city. I was just praying that nobody is being burned alive.

Aside from twitter, here are some websites with updated information regarding the Great Tohoku earthquake:
Gakuranman
Nihongo Up
Surviving Japan Without Much Japanese

One of the biggest concern in Japan is the situation in the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor. Here’s a NY Times article about it.

The first people I thought about after my friends were Monkey Majik members who are in Sendai. They are coping with the disaster. You can follow Blaise’s twitter for the most recent news on what’s going on there.

Other tweeps to follow are: @durf, @gakuranman, @goodpeoplejapan, @kimiecat, @japantimes, @sandrajapandra and @survivingjapan.

My Thoughts

First and foremost, my family and I extends our condolences to all the victims and their family. My dad called me and was surprisingly worried about how my friends were doing in Japan. I am glad everybody is fine. I hope every Japanese stay strong and vigilant in facing the earthquake aftermath. Most of all, I pray that the death toll will not rise significantly and the lost will be found. Oh one more thing, I hope the nuclear crisis will be handled swiftly and safely.