Japan Quake/Tsunami

[hashiriya1]

I was playing PS3 and suddenly my Japanese phone blew up with texts, then my U.S. phone. Several friends in Japan telling me a big earthquake and tsunami had hit Tohoku (northeastern Japan). The first thing I did was wake my fiance up so that she could call her family.

I've been trying to call my friends who live in Sendai (I used to live there for a long time), but I can't get through. It's the area that was hit the worst. The phones are jammed. I got some texts returned, but a lot still unanswered. I'll keep trying until I get through. My fiance is having the same problems getting through to her family.

Anyway, hope you guys in Japan are OK. Let us know! I am watching it on TV live, it looks pretty bad. Let's hope the casualty count is low...

[Lokkenjawnz]

Hey man just wanted to chime in that apparently a lot of people are using internet based means of communicating over there, as the internet is still working fine, as opposed to the phones which are pretty jammed.

Hope your friends/family are alright!

[Pulsar_t]

These natural disasters are very humbling indeed. Japan is the most technologically advanced country on earth so coping with the tsunami isn't going to be as drastic as the 2004 one which killed hundreds of thousands. It seems the wave will hit Taiwan any time now.

Stay safe everyone!

[D.D.D.]

Yeah dude that was pretty f'n intense. 2~3 minutes of left & right shaking, windows shaking, buildings swaying, and a lot of freaked out people. I was in the Northridge quake and that was f'n scary but to compare, this one shook longer, but that was was harder, but this one had over a dozen significant aftershocks that were long and somewhat-intense too. Scary shit man.

Sucks too that where that giant Tsunami hit, Hachinohe, one of my co-workers' sons lives/works there and she still hasn't made contact yet.

Something funny, I have what most Japanese people consider to be the "lesser" cell phone company, Softbank, but the whole time I was able to text/email with people with only 5~10 minute delays. Everyone with the major/best cell company, DoCoMo, couldn't get service at all for over 2 hours.

Anyhoo, time to go eat some sushi as I'm not one of hundreds of thousands stranded (my commute is the opposite way of traffic) because I drive fortunately (it still took 1.5 hours to get home though).

Oh and for how intense this was, even in the greater Tokyo area, nothing really moved in the house (only a few stuffed toys fell over). Weird but happy that's all it was here. Godspeed to those in the center & path.

[D.D.D.]

Hey man just wanted to chime in that apparently a lot of people are using internet based means of communicating over there, as the internet is still working fine, as opposed to the phones which are pretty jammed.

Hope your friends/family are alright!

Yeah, net was fine too.

[toadhall]

Hoping the best for everyone in Japan. I'm watching the live coverage now and it scares me.

[hashiriya1]

I still can't get through. There is one friend I am especially worried about because he lives right on the coastal city of Kuji in Iwate Prefecture... right between Kamaishi and Hachinoe. I've been seeing on the news that Kamaishi and Hachinohe were hit hard by the tsunami. I've been trying to call him for the past 3 hours but can't get through because all of the phone lines in Japan are jammed. I'll keep trying. I got a message from his dad and his dad said he can't reach his son. I can't imagine how his parents feel.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Hopefully you get in contact with your family and friends over there soon Terrence!

I woke up at about 6:30 and it was pandemonium on the news.

Apparently the phone systems were jammed and then turned over exclusively to emergency calls according to CNN. There's also fears of a possible reactor leak at a localized nuclear power plant; but otherwise it seems that casualties are low with the current reported numbers sitting at 44 since about the time I woke up an hour ago.

Other news is that the yen absolutely collapsed overnight as well which is never a good sign. But better a dip in currency than any mass loss of life.

It definitely looks scary as hell from the news, but hopefully nobody gets severely injured in the course of between now and the full recovery.

[Bradtemple87]

Wow, say our prayers for these people. This is terrible.

[fvgazi]

I know there are people from CA and HA on here too. Please be careful guys! Theres a possibility the US may be affected by the tsunami as well.

My condolences to all of the racketeers and citizens of japan who are dealing with this. Like everyone else has been saying, use the internet for contact. Apparently phone service is very limited.