As many are aware, a massive 8.9 earthquake hit the northeast of Japan on Friday, March 11, 2011.
Here is an excerpt from a news article on yahoo:
TOKYO – A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes on record slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it swept away ships, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control.
Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii but did not cause major damage. Warnings blanketed the Pacific, putting areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West coast. In northeastern Japan, the area around a nuclear power plant was evacuated after the reactor's cooling system failed.
Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi prefecture, or state, closest to the epicenter. Another 137 were confirmed killed, with 531 people missing. Police also said 627 people were injured.
I served a mission in Sapporo, Japan in the early 90s, and Sapporo is on Hokkaido, not far from the epicenter of the quake.The hardest thing for me, is not knowing what is going on there, and if my friends on Hokkaido are alright. Even though I haven't had contact with them in a long time, I still think about them, and I hope they're okay.
