Pray for Japan

Special Dispatch to Beacon Media from 16 year old local student, Miku Susan Koach
Who is in Japan on a Junior year study program: This is the first in a series of her experiences of the massive 9.0 Quake that hit Friday that has devastated Japan and its people.

BY Miku Koach

March 11, 2011 breaking news spread throughout the world of the massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit the Pacific Ocean nearby Northeastern Japan causing damage with blackouts, fire and tsunamis. My schoolmates and I were in Hokkaido then, the north island of Japan. Four of us were lying in the snow reminiscing and taking a rest from the long day when we felt a sway. However, we simply brushed it off as the remaining sensation from a long day of skiing. Little did we know of the earthquake that shook the country at that moment.

As soon as we heard the news of the devastating effects of the quake in Miyagi, tsunami warnings came flooding in. In mere moments, the place was a buzz with concern for not only those in the badly damaged areas but for family and friends in the Tokyo area. Everything happening in mere minutes, people began picking up phones and calling loved ones only to be cut off by a dial tone. Telephones weren’t working for the first couple of hours and left us in state of anxious worry. By that afternoon the news was a blaze with images and video and death tolls already reaching hundreds. It was only then that we understood of the devastation the earthquake and the subsequent tsunamis took on the country. It was hard to believe that while the sun shined and snow glistened outside that in the same country people were in the midst of evacuating while their homes were being shook and towns being washed away. It is only after I arrived home in Osaka and saw the news footage as to how the disaster unfolded. It is indeed scary. In some videos, I could see cars that were still moving on the roads and people still standing hopelessly as the waves washed them away. And now with latest news about more tsunamis, hearing of the numerous aftershocks and power outages in the Tokyo area, the limited resources that people in the badly effected areas have, and imagining how much more the death roll will rise, it is clear that this is no longer an issue of Japan but an issue truly on a global scale. It is growing more apparent of the need to protect our planet, because we live here, and here we dwell with our daily tragedies. And with these tragedies comes the time to stand together as one people; as a world; that we pray for Japan and those who are affected by the disaster.

PRAY FOR JAPAN

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