Why I Love The Japanese.

My friend, Stephanie posted this to her facebook and it really brought a tear to my eye.  After the death toll reaching close to 4,000 people and over 7,500 missing, this is how the Japanese are responding:

"The Japanese people are demonstrating a true allegiance to social order and calm as they search for loved ones or wait in lines for basic necessities.

There is not a hint of looting or violence, even as residents must wait in line for 12 hours to buy food. Everyone remains calm and polite, earning the admiration of the world.

"Supermarkets are cutting prices and vending machine owners giving out free drinks as people work together to survive," remarked a writer in the Telegraph, as he wondered why we saw looting in disasters past, but not in Japan.

There were also reports of citizens voluntarily turning their lights and appliances off, so as to save energy for the rest of the population."

This is one of the reasons I love the Japanese.

Fear Of Earthquakes Raised by 8.9

This morning a little after 5am I received a text from my little sister Tiffany asking how I was and if we'd had any tsunamis.  Um... What the...?  I rubbed my eyes and hopped online.  Immediately I saw the news that an 8.9 earthquake had struck the coast of Japan causing tsunamis in the Pacific.  The damage was just devastating.

I immediately reached out to my friends in Hawaii since they were some of the first to receive the Tsunami Watch.  I can still hear the tsunami sirens in my head.  They go would go off in the beginning of every month while I was at work.  I got used to them and having to calm the tourists down.  I couldn't imagine waking up to that sound in the middle of the night, grabbing essentials and heading to higher grounds.

After hearing all was well and that Kauai got the worst of it (about 4 feet), I discovered that they had closed Huntington Beach, my hometown, and their neighboring city Newport Beach.  There was no evacuation but because of the unpredictable currents of the ocean, they kept everyone out.

All of my loved ones and ohana in Hawaii are safe, thank heavens.  Words cannot express my heart for those in Japan and those with families that have been affected.  MY prayers and heart are with them during this tragic event.

My friend had this to say on his Facebook post: "I'll just say this about Japan, I am grateful an earthquake that size hit there and not some third world country. I mean, it is amazing the size of that quake and Tsunami yet only 500 people or so confirmed dead with less than 1000 missing. Only Japan could have been that prepared and for all the religious nuts, God did bless Japan by giving them the knowledge to know how to prepare their island for such a disaster."  Amen, Donavon.