User blog:.Seshat./News Japan: 2011 Sendai Earthquake and the Tsunami That Followed...

As I am sure you all have heard, at 05:46 UTC (14:46 local time) on 11 March 2011 an earthquake that measured anywhere from an 8.8 to a 9.1 on the momentum magnitude scale (what is classified as a 'megathrust earthquake') as reported to be 130 kilometres off the east coast of the Oshika Peninsula, Tōhoku at a depth of 24.4 kilometers (15.2 mi), and the tsunami that followed had waves up to 10 meters (33 ft) in height.

The ripple effect this event has created has shaken the world from Japan to Hawaii, and is expected to be felt even so far as the United States' West Coast. No country, though, has felt the effects as deeply as Japan.

The Sendai Earthquake is the largest to have hit Japan in recorded history, and one of the fifth largest since modern seismic recording began.

503 people, and likely more, have died, and 784 are missing in six different prefectures.

A section of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is believed to be melting down.

According to the United Nations, 45 countries have offered to help Japan. Japan specifically requested assistance from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the U.S., and the U.S. Navy has directed several vessels to Japan to help provide relief.

Of the many anime, J-Pop and video game moguls in the industry that we have chosen to immerse our lives in... Katsura Hoshino is one of those who has yet to be accounted for.

Though most of us do not and will never know these people personally, we feel a connection to them through their writing, their art, the way they have chosen to reach out into the world and express themselves.

We feel a connection because, in some way or another, their works have struck a cord in us, have made us feel a little less alone, have evoked emotions in us we never thought a translated piece of writing or coding could: Because these people, who are so culturally different from us, who live half a world away, who may not even be able to speak our native languages... have crossed international boundaries in a way that many politicians have failed to.

So what do we do in a time like this? When we are helplessly separated by ocean and air, space and even time?

What will you do?

Will you pray?

Will you find the nearest Red Cross and donate blood? Money?

Will you go to your school/university/workplace tomorrow and start a fundraiser?

Will you spend nerve-wracking hours on forums set up by online manga readers to inform people of who is okay and who isn't, pressing the 'Refresh' button over and over again, waiting until the person you are looking for is even just speculated to be okay?

In the end... no matter what you do... remember, this is about more than a manga. A song. A video game. A movie. An anime.

There are people over there confused. Scared. Hurt. Crying. Worried. Just trying to keep it together... much like you would be if this had happened in your country.

And this isn't something that anyone can recover from in a week, two, three, a month... Some may be scarred for a year or more... And, if someone is lost, some may never recover.

No matter what you do, do it well. Even if we are divided in our methods, we are united in our anxiety and, more importantly, our hope.

Japan is strong; she's survived much worse than this. And, unlike many of those times she has had to survive tragedy, this time she is not alone.