Sad news.

Godspeed and courage to all of those affected and their relatives and friends.

My thoughts are with all of you.

~S~

Flatspinman lives in Japan I think? Hope he is ok if that is the case.

Condolences from Turkey.

Our thoughts and best wishes to all touched by this horrible event.

The pacific rim is a dangerous place to live these days. My prayers for the survivors in the rough days coming.

Insofar as Nations go, Japan is the best prepared with building codes designed to withstand even this catastrophe. It could have been MUCH, much worse in any other major city.

If anything, they're probably too lulled by the frequent tremors. -Look at some clips showing employees trying too limit product damage instead of seeking personal safety.

Nothing you can do about the Tsunami except not stand around looking at the incredible destruction going on around you and hope you're not in it's path. Both difficult and unpredictable.

..And I reflect all the above concerns to Japan and it's People as well.

The last time I heard Flat Spin was way south, so he should be fine.

Hi
FlatSpinMan checking in. As Flying Nutcase kindly informed, I live a long way from the affected area (which is huuuge). Luckily Kobe is sheltered from the Pacific tsunamis and typhoons by geography. Shikoku island and the smaller Awaji island break the back of anything trying to come this way.
Obviously this city is far from immune to earthquakes though - 5000 died here in 1995 (that was before I arrived).

Life here is completely normal, albeit a bit depressed ans tense. My wife and I have updated our earthquake packs, planned our rally points 1, 2, and 3.
This last earthquake has made us unsure though. Previous wisdom was to head for open land after a quake but footage of that terrible, terrible tsunami has made us think otherwise. We live in a very strongly built apartment building on the 4th floor, built only 2 years ago. Our current thinking is to sit the quake out here, then climb up a few floors until the tsunami threat is over. Seems counter-intuitive, especially when there is a great big park just across the road, but nothing stood a chance in the face of that killer wave.

Our biggest fear is that it happens while we are at work. Our kids' daycare is a 2-floor building on Rokko Island, just a kilometre or so from the sea (in a very sheltered part of the sea thankfully) and 2 days a week I teach in a huge machinery factory in a steel works on an artificial island. If there is a quake near here then I am in trouble. It'll probably be okay, but recently, with earthquakes in my hometown of Christchurch and now, this disaster here in Japan, I realise that we deceive ourselves about how safe we really are. It is a necessary deception I think, as you couldn't live a sane life considering the possible risk constantly, but the risk, however improbable, exists nonetheless.

Glad to hear you and your family are safe and well Flat