Just heard 7.9 quake hits Japan, and found this link about the airport being closed for now. http://www.ausbt.com.au/major-earthquake-in-japan-tokyo-s-narita-and-haneda-airports-closed
I am guessing my flight to NRT won't be going tomorrow morning.... .... probably not a bad thing as I'm not sure I'd want to go into the middle of this right now!!!
Here is hoping that all the MP Japan/Tokyo area residents and vistors have all come through the earthquake and aftershocks relatively unscathed. The video that I just woke up to is frightening in its sheer magnitude of what's happened. UA Inbound flights are diverted to the OTO air force base, and then being sent KIX. From the flight status listing, it looks like they wanted to send the flights on to NGO, but those segments were all cancelled. Unsure what happens to those travelers now. @Techgirl, agree it's not somewhere you want to head given the unknown of aftershocks and when you'd be able to leave.
I also want to offer our Japanese MP friends and MPers visiting my well wishes. How awful! That footage of the tsunami was eye-opening.
We're hoping to hear from Sendaiben, apparently he lives just 10 minutes from SDJ (Sendai airport). SDJ airport
This is horrible news. One of my closest friends and a client of thirty years left for SDJ yesterday. Nobody has heard from him, not even a text. Amid the chaos of a disaster like this one we may not know the extent for days or weeks.
Communications won't be restored for a while, and I understand they are telling people not to clog up the cell phone lines with personal calls, they need to keep the bandwidth open for emergency responders. Hope we start hearing good news soon.
I did just hear from his spouse in Tokyo. She knows not too much either, but they do have electricity and internet access there, and being told to stay off the telephones they're using Skype. Of course press reports show much of the most damaged areas. She suggested that it may be weeks before it is all sorted out because of the time of day when almost everyone was out. At least where she is in Shibuya there seems to be little obvious physical damage that she can see. More industrial parts of Tokyo apparently are more deeply affected. We just saw the CNN offices in Tokyo during the quake, where they obviously had power and managed to stay broadcasting and using the telephones. We can only hope that means there will be less loss of life, but that is likely to be a vain hope.
A second, apparently unrelated, earthquake has just hit. Unbelievable. I really hope all of our MPers are safe. There but for the grace of God I'm here in the US and safe. It's going to be an uphill battle to get AA to do me right on the ticket (they made me buy a one-way LAX-DFW to get back home since they couldn't figure out how to re-accommodate me) and I'm bleary-eyed from staying up all night watching CNN footage since wingless (if that's what she goes by on MP) called me to tell me about the quake. Just unbelievable. Incredibly scary.
Oh, my. I hope he turns up safe & communicates with worried family and friends soon. This is truly devastating.
Thanks to you both. A few minutes ago I received this from him. All the rest was personal. It is quite amazing. They have internet and 3G is running so they can use Skype, but their landlines are down and they have no power. He was recalled from the trip at the last minute and sent to Osaka instead, but with phones out it took a long time to communicate with his family. Other people, many of them, were not so fortunate. "...I am fine, as well as my family..."
My BIL is stationed at Pearl, but lives on the windward side of Oahu. Things ended up being relatively quiet there, fortunately, although it was clearly very tense for a while. Glad everyone out in the islands is ok.
Add me to the list of those giving their sympathies to those in North Eastern Japan, and anyone else inconvenienced due to this tragedy.
Thanks very much for the post.. such a sad situation there .. as we all know know.. just look at the video.. 8.9 is soooo very severe.. Again, all are best wishes thoughts and prayers to all those affected.. I'm feeling especially grateful this evening..
