It is heartbreaking to read stories and see pictures of the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan over the weekend. One natural disaster to strike a country is more than enough, and within hours this country was hit with two.
Thousands of people are dead, with bodies literally washing up onshore. Crematoriums cannot keep up with the flow of cremations and funerals. Millions are without food, water, and heating for the fourth day and hundreds of thousands more are living in emergency shelters. Then add in the scares over the nuclear reactors in the area that have lost their cooling abilities, specifically the plant at Fukushima Dai-ichi. Should these reactors have a meltdown, radioactive material could be released into the air. It is astounding what has been thrown at this nation.
On a side scientific note, Japan was pushed a full 13 feet closer to the United States and two feet downward by this quake The earth has actually shifted 6.5 inches on its axis and the day has been shortened by 1.6 microseconds. I doubt we'll notice that. And not to worry, this isn't the first time the earth has shifted or the day has shortened. See, told you you wouldn't notice.
There are so many ways and hundreds of places to donate to help those in need in Japan. Following are just a few links to donation sites and other ways you can help.
Yahoo's List of Orgs - link no longer available
American Red Cross - link no longer available
Salvation Army - link no longer available
iTunes: Open the iTunes store, look for the "Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief” button, and use your iTunes account to donate.
Texting: Text "Japan" or "Quake" to 80888 to make a $10 donation through Salvation Army.
As always, be careful where you are sending your money. There are many people who will try and scam you and e-mails are already circulating. Your best bet is to visit the website or local office of a charity that you would like to donate through. Read this article on donation scamming to keep yourself safe.
The continuing problems with the nuclear reactors in Japan are the main news story at the moment. And give it a few days for some sort of undue panic to set in in southern California. So I'll go ahead and post this snippet from the New York Times regarding the radioactive plume that is currently moving towards the US west coast.
ReplyDelete"Health and nuclear experts emphasize that radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States, even if hints of it are ultimately detectable. In a similar way, radiation from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 spread around the globe and reached the West Coast of the United States in 10 days, its levels measurable but minuscule."
Just continue to watch the news and keep yourself informed, not paniced or drawn into media hype.