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Saturday, March 12, 2011

Earthquake and Tsunami

We woke up yesterday morning to news that just north of Tokyo, Japan, there had been an earthquake with 8.7 magnitude. Such devastation. Then, to top it off, a tsunami hit the coast. Even worse, the earthquake caused massive problems and an explosion at a radiation plant.

It has been reported that the damage from the combination of the earthquake and tsunami caused Japan's coast to shift 8 feet and tilt the earth's axis. I contacted a friend who lives in Okinawa and she reported they had no damage or problems. I find that totally amazing. When we lived there, we had one tsunami warning. I think the wave was about 3 inches when it finally arrived. We felt a few minor earthquakes which felt very strange and almost unreal. I can't imagine what a "real" earthquake would feel like, much less an 8.7. We did have two typhoons which had winds in excess of 140 mph. THAT was scary!

Afterwards, Hawaii, Alaska, and the US eastern coast had tsunami warnings. Luckily, there was minimal damage. Of course, there were warnings for our eastern states asking people to go to high ground. Many did, but many people either sat on the beach watching or used the large waves to surf.

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