Hello. First of all, we are all safe. Our friends are also okay. Thank you for all the worries and players.

I will explain the situation.

As you know, the earthquake had the power of magnitude 9.0, which is the 4^th largest to have been recorded around the world. The center of the shock was in the Pacific Ocean near the land in the north-eastern Japan. Because it had been predicted that a large earthquake would come, the locals had earthquake drills, and built banks. They were obviously highly conscious of the need for disaster prevention.

However, the earthquake was beyond their imagination. First, 3 different earthquakes occurred one after another. This seems to have caused the huge Tsunami.

We still don’t have complete information of the tidal wave’s power, height and range, because some measuring instruments have broken.

The Tsunami seems to have reached the shores about 30 minutes after the quake, before the residents had evacuated. The wave traveled more than 10 km inland. Most of the cities near the sea have been destroyed.

The quake, Tsunami, and the fire. Tragedy came continuously. For example, in a town called Minamisanriku-Cho where 17800 people live, more than 10000 are still missing. Kesennuma was engulfed by a sea of flames.

Dead people are being found or washed ashore in the number of hundreds.

Sadly, it has been reported that the death toll would be in the ten thousands.

Along the coast line where there are many small towns, roads are cut off so cars cannot enter. Infrastructures like electricity, gas, and water are yet to recover. Many towns have no contact with the outside. 460000 people have evacuated, living in anxiety without enough food or warmth. Survivors don’t have homes to return to, as they were destroyed by the wave. Snow is falling, and at night times, the temperature falls below freezing. The cities all look like the photographs taken after a war.

There are still after quakes. Also, the seismic center seems to be moving southwards. It has reached the Kanto area, Tokyo Bay, Nagano and Niigata. We don’t know if the quakes are connected in some way. Still, we are very worried.

The accidents at the Fukushima nuclear power station makes us even more worried. There was an explosion and there are radiation leakages. About every hour, new news arrives so there is no time to rest. Right now, residents living in the 30km perimeter of the power station have been evacuated. It is about 300 km from Tokyo but the radiation levels here are 20 times the normal level. The government says that it’s harmless, but we are worried.

Of course, we do not have enough electricity as it is mainly supplied from the Fukushima plant. So as not to have a major blackout, we have planned electricity cuts in turn. It is inconvenient, but compared to the people in the disaster-struck area, we are very fortunate. Unnecessary neon lights have been turned off to save electricity. Some shops have closed or are open for only a limited time to contribute to saving electricity. Trains don’t run as often as usual, either.

Everyone buys more food than necessary, and distribution of goods have stopped so things have become scarce. However, nobody tries to steal, or act violently. Instead people are acting very calmly.

Shocking news comes up continuously, but we believe that all Japanese will think positively. Japan will rebuild our lives and the economy as soon as possible. 　

Please pray for us from Cairns.

     March 15, 2011

    Lisa& Daiya Inoue　　

　　※私にはここまで英語では書けないので、大也の訳です　(^_^)v

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