Between You and Cherry: March 11's Japan 9.0 Quake

It was March 11, 2011,around 2 o'clock here in the Philippines, when I got a phone call from my eldest brother from the United States. I picked up the phone and said "Hello! How are you?," in a good-to-hear-from-you tone of voice. But instead of saying "I'm fine.," he asked me to turn on my TV and watch CNN and said that a magnitude 8.9 (later on increased to 9.0) earthquake struck Japan and that a tsunami alert was raised in the country. A few minutes after, he hung up the phone and said he will call back in a while.

For many viewers, maybe, it was a horrifying scene to watch, just like in the movies. It was unbelievable how an earthquake with that strength be real. To make it worse, it was a heart-breaking moment to watch and see how the estimated 77.4 feet tall tsunami engulfed everything in its path. Once again, my brother called and told me that the tsunami was currently devastating the coastal areas of Japan.

For my family and I, the anxiety was actually even worse. It was because my brother's children were in Japan when these events happened and to add more, we were clueless as to what town or city they were at that time and I could only cry and pray that they were far away from the towns that were affected.

During the first few hours of learning about the situation, I tried doing my research on their whereabouts, made phone calls, sent messages and it was only a few hours after, that we got a news that they were safe and that they were at the southern part of Japan. It was a big sigh of relief and I could not thank God enough that they were safe and that they are almost a thousand miles away from Sendai...Thank God.

To this day, it is still hard to believe how three catastrophic events (earthquake, tsunami, radiation exposure) happened in a particular part of Japan, simultaneously. Being far away, we can only help in very little ways such as donating money (that I'm sure will go a long way) to organizations conducting rescue and relief efforts and of course, Pray for Japan, most especially those who were devastated, who lost their loved one, who are still looking for their missing loved ones, who lost their homes and have no house to go home to and those who are threatened by radiation exposure.

Japan, our prayers are with you.

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Earthquakes (the shaking of the earth), are unpredictable forces of nature which can be devastating, depending on its magnitude (strength), duration and other hazards around us.

"Strong earthquakes are extremely serious phenomena that can be devastating and horrifying. But instead of just being afraid, what we can do is to empower ourselves by educating ourselves and preparing so that we know what to do during these devastating events."