Like so many of you, I learned about the earthquake in Japan from Twitter, following the best inside news source I can find: BlogHer Makiko Itoh on her blog, Just Hungry, and on Twitter (@makiwi).
I'm still tweeting translated updates from Japanese news sources whenever I am up. I'm doing this because news on English and other language sources is at least 2 hours behind that of news broadcast in Japan, and rather uninformed or sensationalistic more often than it should be. It also helps me cope."
Here's one of her tweets from this morning:
just repeating, there are continuous aftershocks still, the ones that get alerts are just the stronger ones.
Makiko Itoh (maki)
makiwi
Since Twitter's been up and down, Maki's placed all of her Twitter updates in one spot. Read her post for a great list of funds specifically for the Japan Earthquake, from Lady Gaga to the Salvation Army.
© Hannibal Hanschke/DPA/ZUMAPRESS.com
This earthquake has touched so many of you -- yet so differently. Compassion is a cornerstone of this community:
- Dana Damico of Feast After Famine wrote this pictorial memoir of her two, formative years Tsuyama-cho, a tiny farming village near the northeast coast. Silvergirl28 doesn't have Dana's personal connection to Japan, but offers up a beautiful prayer.
- Joella from Fine and Fair writes to her baby daughter a memoir of watching the tragedy unfold from the protection of her living room.
- Bridget Magnus at Short Woman has a post with detailed infographics on Japanese prefectures and weather disasters.
- And in one of my favorite essays, Naomi Zikmund-Fisher of Monday Morning Crisis Quarterback analyzes why Americans are responding differently, in her opinion, to Japan than to Haiti: "In Haiti, we felt guilty. In Japan, we feel scared."
I hope you enjoy these links -- and urge you to act on SeattleMamaDoc's superb preparedness post, shared below. She's created way more than a checklist -- I felt like she had come to my house, held my hand, and then gone to the store with me to help pack my kit.
Seriously, wonder women: If you don't have an ER kit, let her help you. After this winter I think we can pretty much agree that you don't have to live in earthquake country like I do to need this plan for the next act of Mother Nature that hits your town.
How are you staying updated on the events in Japan? Have you posted about it? Let me know in the comments.