I've watched sooo many videos of what happened in Japan and I still can't fathom it.

[BillyJack]

The ppl living it....I just can't imagine.

Peace, peace, love, prayers, money to you....I dunno....it can't be enough.

[Lucinda]

1. Yawp. It's still so hard to wrap my brain around it.

Any one component would have been hard to handle....but it's been event after event after event... Unreal.

[Tx4obama]

5. And now add an exploding VOLCANO to the list.

Earthquakes, Tsunami, explosions at the nuclear plant, and a volcano.
----------------

Japanese Volcano Shinmoedake Erupts
http://toppayingideas.com/blog/2011/03/13/japanese-volcano-shinmoedake-erupts/

[Tx4obama]

6. More info on the volcano

From the Huffington Post Japan Live Blog....

After being dormant for two weeks, the Shinmoedake volcano in southern Japan has erupted again:

Sunday's eruption, which was the biggest volcanic activity in Shinmoedake in 52 years, caused widespread destruction and panic. The blast could be heard for miles, and shattered windows four miles away, the BBC reported. Hundreds of people fled the area as the volcano spewed debris, including hot ash and rocks, more than 6,000 feet in the air, according to BBC reports.

Officials from the Japanese Meteorological Agency tell the Los Angeles Times that it's unclear if there is any link to Friday's devastating earthquake.

[Lucinda]

7. Yup. It's like a bad movie. If someone wrote this as a script we'd all

say it was too unbelievable. Yet here we are.

[rainbow4321]

9. I told my daughter that last night!!

Exact wording!

If there was a movie out with this kind of "disaster after disaster after disaster", we'd all be going "ya know, they could have left out some stuff, it was a LITTLE over the top"!

[hlthe2b]

2. Seems like we are living through the "perfect storm"

on earth, right now. Certainly the Japanese are, but add to that a worldwide recession of historic magnitude and the usual share of violence and unrest across nations. It just seems so overwhelming, right now.

Nonetheless, if the Japanese affected most by the earthquake and tsunami can manage to put one foot in front of the other, each day, and maintain their hope for a better day to come, ... then so, surely, can we. :shrug:

[snagglepuss]

10. Hear. Hear, nt

[Hannah Bell]

3. kr

[murielm99]

4. I keep reminding myself that

there are people in those cars, buildings, boats. I can't imagine how many people have died in the videos I have seen.

The scope of the destruction and human loss are too much for us to comprehend all at once.

[TorchTheWitch]

8. I know what you mean

It's so overwhelming it's hard to really process.

[malaise]

11. What I can't fathom is how many people are

walking out of that mess alive. This is a disaster of epic proportions and it is still not over.

[TheModernTerrorist]

12. Tokyo-ite here

I've been living here for a little over 2 1/2 years. Life in Tokyo is still "normal", however there is now an effort to limit electricity use to prevent some of the blackout procedures from going into use. Trains and electric transport have been greatly affected. Several train lines that don't carry many passengers (including the one in my girlfriend's town) have shut down, and the major lines have delays and other issues. Haven't seen any escalators running, and many shops were closed today as this is the first day of the implemented blackout plan (thus many shoppers/employees can't make it to the stores).
Other than that, there aren't many severe problems for life in the big city AT THE MOMENT. We had some minor damage here, and we still receive a LARGE amount of aftershocks (seems like at least one an hour; most just strong enough to gently shake my lampshade).

What most people are waiting on is:
1) A conclusion to the power plant issue in Fukushima.
2) Another possible earthquake, that is likely to hit this week, according to seismologists.

#1 is, of course, a problem, and will be the major long-term problem IN TOKYO.
But if #2 happens, well, hopefully its somewhere else.