The Aftermath...

This was a MASSIVE earthquake, and the earth is STILL MOVING. Below is an image pulled from the USGS website that shows the sites of all of the earthquakes we've been having. there have been 528 in the last 7 days, and that doesn't include the ones on Wednesday that I originally posted about. =^O

The big earthquake on Friday was ruled an 8.9 on the richter scale. Since the Pacific plate shifted beneath us during the quake, the coast of Japan shifted 8 FEET to the East! They're also saying it was so violent that it tipped the earth's axis! To put things in perspective, the earthquake that decimated Haiti last January was a 7.0. The one that just flattened Christchurch, New Zealand a few weeks ago was only a 6.3. Granted, they were right on top of the epicenter, whereas the fault line here is about 150 miles offshore, and Haiti did not have the infrastructure to withstand a quake half that size... But they also didn't have to deal with the giant tsunami wave or the threat of nuclear meltdown. They're saying the destruction down south is like Katrina on a much, much bigger scale. Entire villages are just gone. People were trapped under heaps of rubble for days. Search and rescue teams were significantly delayed by several feet of mud and debris blocking the roads. It's still winter time here. (In fact, it's been snowing for the last two or three days) but people are without shelter, power, heat, or clean water. The National Police Agency in Tokyo said that, as of this morning, there are 5,178 people dead, over 8,000 still missing, and there are around 380,000 evacuees now living in shelters in eight prefectures (counties) including the worst-hit areas in Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwate prefectures.

We have to give HUGE credit to the Japanese warning systems here though. There are over 5,000 people dead, but over 100,000 homes destroyed. Clearly things could have been much, MUCH worse. The Japanese know how to build in order to withstand major earthquakes. Most of the damage was caused by the tsunami. The Japanese people have also reacted incredibly well to the situation. If something like this happened in the U.S. you could expect mass hysteria - people looting damaged stores and hoarding resources. (We saw some of that at the grocery store on Saturday morning.) But the Japanese all remained calm and silent during the quake, and continue to operate in a calm and orderly fashion. In some ways that has been causing problems with international aid because they won't let us just sweep in and help. Everything has to be done cautiously and with a well-laid plan.

Speaking of international aid - I am SO impressed with how quickly the US and other countries were able to get their rescue teams and supplies here. Derick was called in to work on Saturday night and helped receive the USAID workers, who unloaded and unbelievable amount of equipment and supplies. They came with a full team of search and rescue dogs, as well as their own rations and water so that their presence would not be a detriment to the local community. Now that we have power, Misawa has become the hub here for aid so we have helicopters, C-17 and C-130 cargo planes flying in and out of here at all hours.

As I said, we've been incredibly fortunate here on base. The only structural damage that I know of here occurred at the Youth Center, where Lisa works. She had to direct the kids to get under tables and into doorways to avoid falling ceiling tiles and ductwork as parts of the ceiling caved in. No one was injured, thank goodness. We went and investigated a couple of days ago.

Below are some pictures James and our friends have taken while out on humanitarian aid missions and general exploration around the coast here in Misawa.

Below: a ship upended in or near Hachinohe

Below: pictures of the beach. You can see the sand has been

washed away, giant concrete slabs were lifted and tossed,

trees were uprooted and boats are in the trees - sometimes

lifted as high as 15 feet in the air.

Below are pictures James took while out cleaning up Misawa port.

You can see that buildings were swept away,

The asphalt is covered in 2 feet of mud and sludge,

and boats, cars, and debris are scattered 100s of yards from the coast.

We have several friends down south working and cleaning up as we speak and I imagine they will have some incredible photos and stories to share. I'll keep you all updated when those come in.