EARTHQUAKE!

From CNN.com

This morning I awoke to the news that Japan had been rocked by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake at 2:46pm local time, the worse in the country's history and the fifth worse since 1900.  The epicenter of the earthquake was near the town of Sendai in the northeastern part of the island but the tremors were felt in Tokyo, located 240 miles south.  A second, magnitude 6.6 quake struck central Japan along the northwest coast around 4 a.m. local time on Saturday, causing buildings to sway.

From CNN.com

The earthquake triggered a 23 foot tsunami of such force that devastated everything in its path, sweeping hundreds of people to their death and engulfing everything before it as it surged inland before retreating. 

The tsunami travelled eastward with enough speed and force to hit both Hawaii and California and cause damage in its wake.

From CNN.com 

 
Like many people, I was glued to the TV and CNN this morning to listen to the breaking news.  CNN.com posted up a video of the tsunami as it made its way across the Japanese landscape. It left me sitting in stunned silence, goosebumps on my arms.

As of the time this posting, the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami is staggering and rescue operations have begun in the affected areas.

 A major concern are also the stability of Japan's nuclear reactors.  Japan declared states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants near Onahama after the units lost cooling ability when the power went out.  Additionally, the Defense Ministry dispatched dozens of troops trained to deal with chemical disaster to the plant in case of a radiation leak.

On a more personal front, my friend Kiat reached out to our fellow colleague, Naomi Miyagi who works in our Tokyo Office.  The last time I saw Naomi was a couple years ago when she came to DC for training.  Kiat, my friend Soon Ang and I took her out for a kaiseki dinner at a local Japanese restaurant.  That night, she was happy and enjoying herself - laughing at Kiat's recounting of his stay at a Japanese ryokan and how the women there kept bowing at him.  Today, there was no joy or laughter for Naomi. Though she and the rest of our Tokyo based colleagues are safe, in her email back to Kiat, you could sense that she was still shaken up by the events of the day.  She ended her message by simply saying, "It was terrible..."

Naomi with Kiat's arm around her shoulder on the left, Soon Ang and I on the right

I leave for Japan in exactly 4 weeks and I am sure that I will see signs of earthquake damage when I am there. There will be some very difficult times ahead of the people of Japan as they recover from this horrific event. My thoughts and prayers go out to them.