Earthquake in Japan

It's most unfortunate that my first blog entry for AuroraWings.com site had to be about the catastrophic earthquake and its aftermath in Japan. I am from Japan, though I live in the US now. All of my immediate family and relatives live over there. Luckily, the ones closest to me live in Nagano prefecture where damage was minimal despite three quakes in two days. I do have relatives on my father's side that live in the northeast region close to the hardest hit area. It is heartbreaking to see devastation of this scale. Watching the news footage of the aerial view of tsunami was horrifying.

For now, I find comfort in knowing that my sister, her husband, their daughter, and my folks are safe and sound. Most of my friends from childhood are also safe. There are, however, many others -- friends and acquaintances -- that I am simply not certain of. All I can do is pray for their safety and their loved ones' safety. Natural disasters like this make one feel utterly helpless. I've had nothing but reflection on life and its fragility all day.

I wish the people of Japan -- the survivors -- will find hope and courage and rise from this chaos once again, like they have done countless times in history. People are resilient. Crises like this can bright people together and bring wonderful things. I hope something positive will come out of this in the long, hard process of recovery and rebuilding.