The Crisis in Japan

Today Japan has been hit with not one but two natural disasters. The first to hit was a magnitude 8.9 earthquake 80 miles off of the eastern coast of northern Japan. Followed by a 30 foot deep Tsunami. The two together have caused hundreds of deaths already and massive property damage to the majority of the northern part of the country. To help you grasp what is going on, basically Japan has experienced one of the 5 biggest earthquakes to happen in the last hundred years. The earthquake that hit India back in 2004 was a magnitude 9.0 and tsunami and that caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and untold damage to the cities it hit. 

The little red triangles are active volcanoes

Japan is located on the "Ring of Fire" a volcanically active and earthquake prone ring. This is where most of the worlds active volcanoes and 90% of the biggest earthquakes occur, but this is the largest earthquake Japan has seen since 1923 when they dealt with an 8.2 hitting Kanto.

One thing that Google is currently running is a Crisis Response page that is keeping an up to date feed on information as well as a Person Finder. The Person Finder can be used to either help locate or tell the location of people currently in Japan. If anyone has loved ones that they have not been able to contact you may want to try this. Crisis Response Person Finder

Others that may be wanting to help or trying to find ways to help there are numerous organizations looking for support to help the people of Japan:
The American Red Cross is currently accepting donations through their website and by phone just text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10.

The Salvation Army  is working on sending a team to help out Sendai, Japan and is taking donations via their website and also by phone just text either JAPAN or QUAKE to 80888 to donate $10.

Save The Children is accepting donations to it's Children's Emergency Fund to help out kids and their families affected by the disaster.

International Medical Corps is taking donations via website and phone text MED to 80888 for a $10 donation as well as trying to get volunteers for response teams.

Global Giving is taking donations to help the Japanese people.

Doctors Without Borders is looking for donations to send in medical response teams to Iwate and Miyagi.

Operation Usa is looking for both monetary donations as well as medical supply donations.

This may look like a huge list of people asking for money but even helping out one of these organizations will make a difference to people who currently need major help right now. Even posting in a blog or on Facebook about helping will get the word out and make a difference. Think of it this way if something like this happened where you live or someone you loved lives, wouldn't you want everyone to try and help?
If you have any questions, ask and I will try my best to answer them.