March 15, 2011

Help Japan

It has been a heart wrenching weekend for Japan and well, all mankind I think...  I was on my way home from work last Friday afternoon when Terry told me by phone that Japan was hit by a 8.9 richter scale earthquake. My first thought was my friend Belinda and her husband as they were holidaying in Tokyo at the time. I proceeded to contact them via sms, whatsapp, email, viber... all without any success. I must have a trace of hysteria in my voice as my husband kept telling me not to panic as communication network there was down.... When I got home our telephone screen was filled with the devastating images.

My next thought was this is the last thing Japan needs....

Then I thought, ahmmm, I have booked flights to Tokyo at the end of May. My mum turned 60 in January so I had planned to take this trip with her as part of her birthday present. I have been doing a lot of research on places to go while we are there, onsens and ryokan to stay at, craft shops to shop at, ramen places to eat at... well all these seem so insignificant now... when so many sufferings are going on.

Anyway eventually Belinda and David made contact on Sunday at 2am - I was so relieved! They were both fine, just couldn't make contact easily as expected. They are now back home in Hong Kong.

The Japanese people's resilience is truly amazing but how will a country rebuild from such damage?! I have seen heard some inspiring stories via Twitter and FB, how people are band together and helping one another.

I believe the only thing we as fellow human being can do is to help in any way possible. Unlike the QLD Flood Appeal, I have not worked out if there is a dedicated charity set up by the Japanese government but there are a few fund raising going on, just to name a few:

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