Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

Usually I don't follow the news. I get my updates at the end of the day when DH comes home from work. And even then I only hear about it, if it's major. So I was really impressed that I knew about the earthquake and tsunami warnings in Japan only minutes after it happened. Why, because I got lucky. Someone had posted on Facebook that they couldn't believe the fire and flooding that they were watching Live. So of course, I had to google "fire and flooding" and I managed to get the first updates about the earthquake in Japan and the tsunami that followed as it was happening.

That being said, my heart goes out to the people of Japan and everyone else caught in the path of the resulting tsunamis. Tsunami warnings are in effect all along the West Coast of North, Central and South America. Waves have hit Hawaii and were only slightly higher than average and the evacuation seems to have been a success. Reports of tsunami waves hitting Alaska's Aleutian Island chains vary from 5 feet to 18 inches. Worst hit was northern Japan, with waves reported at 13 feet.

I've seen so many comments about mother nature being angry or that this signals the end of the world, etc. That the tsunami looked like the one in the movie 2012. I think that's all fear mongering. Granted, natural disasters have recently seemed to gain in intensity. But for every earthquake, tsunami, volcano, bad hurricane, etc. I can point to a like natural disaster at some point in history. And the earth hasn't ended yet.

And while I'm an environmentalist with a very real appreciation for how much human activity can screw with the workings of nature, I just don't think that an earthquake occuring deep in the ocean was related to anything we are doing. So, it's not the action of some sentient nature spirit, or a higher power, or the end of the earth punishing us for our collective sins. It's a natural occurance which triggered another natural occurance. I'm pretty sure if mother nature were actually sentient, we'd see much more targeted disasters (forest fires to discourage loggers, tsunamis to discourage overfishing, earthquakes to protest urban sprawl, droughts to protest overuse of water, flooding of strip mines, etc.).

Mother Nature

I am still stuck in Europe. My next attempt to flee the continent will happen on Monday. I can't afford to stay much longer, since I have a very important job interview on Tuesday for a job that I want more than I can possibly explain. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that nothing major happens between now and Monday. I need to be on that plane. I'm also starting to become impatient and am just about ready to hop on a train to Spain and fly home from there. Not that there are any empty spots on those planes either, since everyone seems to have the same idea.

Mother Nature,

I appreciate your display of power. As a fellow woman, I know that this has to happen occassionally to keep things interesting. However, you are messing with my career, and I am getting pretty frustrated. From one woman to another, we both have something to prove, let me have my chance.

Anna

Mother Nature- Friend or Enemy

I'm usually all about Mother Nature and her beauty. But I forget that she can be vengeful too. In this case her beautiful volcano is playing havok with my travel plans. I'd love to view the beautiful lava from a distance (TV seems a safe enough distance to me), but add in that ash cloud and the fact that no planes are flying out of the northern part of Europe, and it has the potential of throwing a serious wrench into my plans. I miss my hubby, and my cat, and we're supposed to get company this weekend. Not to mention having to go back to work again... I've already missed a week of work due to my unplanned trip to Germany. Not that it wasn't worth it, because it definitely was, but I hate suprises, even good ones.