Just a quick update about what's happened so far:
Update from March 12th
I am alright and so is Simon. Ome is about 280 miles away from the epicenter. School was in session when it hit here, but all the kids were at a park near the school for PE class, and so they were all safe. We were a little shaken by the earthquake but in our immediate area there was no damage other than some things being knocked off walls.
Where Simon lives (Koga, Ibaraki) is about 70 miles closer to the epicenter so it was rougher where he is. He and his housemate are both safe but there was quite a bit of damage to their house and the houses in their neighborhood. Aftershocks are still hitting and could continue for days but for now it looks like we are safe here.
Please keep the people affected by this earthquake in your prayers. This is the largest earthquake in Japan's history and the 7th largest in the world.
Millions of people are affected and thousands are missing. Please pray for the rescue of those in danger, for comfort for those who have lost loved ones, and for wisdom for authorities and relief organizations to know how best to respond in this time of crisis.
Update from March 13th
Just an update on what's happening with me. CRASH Japan is re-mobilizing after a relatively disasterless period. CRASH is a Christian disaster relief organization endorsed by JEMA (Japan Evangelical Missionary Association).
Saturday I went to church and Erin and I spent 9 hours there calling through a list of missionaries in the affected areas. We couldn't reach about 50% of the ones we called, and the ones we did get through to varied from people in lesser affected areas that were mostly fine, to people in more affected areas who were still slightly panicked and without water and electricity.
Erin and I compiled all the info and feedback from everyone into a database so that other volunteers can keep trying to contact people and can know where to send help.
CRASH will not be sending too many teams in right away since rescue operations are happening now, and unless people are trained professionals they'll just get in the way and cause more chaos.
We're going to be organizing data to find out where volunteers will be most helpful and what they can do so teams can go in from next week or so.
Today was crazy as well. Immediately after church we went to Higashi Kurume where the CRASH command center will be for the next month. We helped set some things up and Jonathan had a meeting for volunteers so he could explain what is needed.
School is canceled for tomorrow, so Erin, Anna, and I will be going in again to help at the command center. But as of Tuesday I think school will be back in session as normal.
We might be able to volunteer again during spring break - possibly by then more physical volunteer stuff will be needed and we can actually go in and help people in the affected areas.
As for how things are with us now - there are rolling blackouts across Japan to help conserve electricity until power plants can be repaired. The blackout times will be changed daily and they're for 4 hours at a time. Hopefully this won't affect school too much but we might have to be inventive with our lighting options.
All the gas stations in the area are either out of gas completely (with big signs up saying they have no more gas) or they have looooong lines of cars waiting to get gas. We passed a line of cars leading to the only open gas station in a 45 minute stretch - they were lined up for a good 5 blocks along the side of the road.
If you're hearing about the nuclear power plants and possible meltdowns - I don't have any new info, you're probably hearing all the latest.
Looks like there are a couple power plants in Fukushima that are threatening meltdown, but they are hoping that cooling them with seawater will help. If you look on this map
you can see where Fukushima is in relation to Tokyo. There is another power plant that has declared a state of emergency because radiation is leaking, but they're trying to find the source of the leak and they say that no levels dangerous to humans have leaked yet.
Whether or not the news can be believed is another matter. I don't know if we should be concerned or not. I'm going to opt for not being concerned since it wouldn't help anything anyway.
Will keep you all updated as I can :)
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