Just because I thought some here might find it interesting, and because it gives the closest most of us can get to a sense of the scale, of the enormity of the effects of the tsunami, I am posting a picture of one page from the newspaper here listing the newly confirmed dead. This is now weeks after the event and every day the newspaper has a section that is close to identical to this.
The map contains, obviously, the locations of the deaths, and the numbers you see peppered throughout are the ages of the deceased. There are, of course, a lot of 70’s, 80’s and 90’s in those numbers, but there are plenty of the lower numbers, as well. The ones that really stand out, to me, are the one-digit numbers. The nines, the sevens. The zeros.
And the big scary looking circles on the map indicate the Fukushima Nuclear Reactors evacuation order area (the 20km mark) and recommended evacuation area (the 30 km mark).
[quote]PonceDeLeon wrote:
My god. So fucking tragic.[/quote]
Yeah, this is terrible.
Cort, what part of Japan are you in?[/quote]
I’m in the southernmost part of Honshu, the main island, close to Hiroshima. I am way far away from everything that happened. I did not even realize there had been an earthquake until I started getting a ton of concerned emails from people I hadn’t talked to in ages.
Down here, the only way you notice that anything has even happened is that all of the batteries and bottled water are gone from every store (because people buy them and send them up north to those who are needing them now).
The good thing is the efficiency of our transportation systems here still rocks. My wife and I sent a few care packages to friends of ours up north who’d been affected by the disaster. The boxes were easily 30lbs each, yet they only cost $10 each to send, and got there in less, yes, less than 24 hours.
I was reading about the cultural attitude with respect to community in a time of tragedy, that is, that the Japanese aren’t trying to loot each other and cause riots like during Katrina (not trying to turn this into a debate, just a point of observation).
I have two good Japanese friends here who are VERY Japanese (2-5 years here) but they say their friends and families are safe; I know they’re disturbed by the potential radiation fallout, though, and what’s happening to their countrymen.
I have not heard of one, not one, incidence of looting or crime related to this event (okay, I did hear of one story of some asshole who ripped off the collection jar from a convenience store…guess he must have really, really needed money).
As many criticisms as I have of Japanese culture, they have truly shown themselves to be their brother’s keepers.
It reminds me of something that often struck me when I first came here. I’d walk near group of young males dressed like absolute thugs, and all of my prejudices and biases would start kicking in, and I’d start thinking all sorts of negative things and get me guard up and gear into alert mode, and then one of them would smile at me and say something really nice, or ask genuinely curious questions about me in the most polite manner, and I would have to go sit down and reevaluate my entire world view.
