I’m sure you’ve heard the sad news coming from Japan. From what I’ve read, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck off the east coast of Japan and sent a devastating tsunami towards the northeastern coast.
Thankfully, my family and I are safe and sound. We live south of Tokyo, so we were unaffected by the tsunami. We did, however, feel the earthquake. It was by far the strongest earthquake we’d ever felt during our time here. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) measures the strength of earthquake by region with a scale from 1 (weakest) to 7 (strongest). My region felt a 2 (according to the JMA website). The regions closest to the quake felt 6-7. I can’t imagine what a 4 feels like, let alone a 6-7.
We were just sitting down to a nice lunch on a beautiful spring-like day. All of a sudden, the floor began to shake and our hanging pots and lamps began to sway. “Just another earthquake.” I thought and kept eating. We’d gotten pretty used to the small quakes that occur from time to time, but this time, the rumbling just kept escalating. I then realized how unprepared we were for earthquakes. The quake wasn’t debilitating, so I didn’t head under the table or go into the closet for safety. I turned off our gas stove and checked to see if the internet was still working. Luckily, it was and I immediately googled “japan quake”. I eventually found the JMA site and the map of Japan on the main page was littered with multi-coloured dots indicating areas that were struck by the earthquake. It was a bittersweet feeling seeing that our area had a blue or “weak” dot on it, while the hardest hit areas had red and purple dots on them, signifying JMA 6-7s.
The quake eventually died down and we began seeing all the news stories pop up. We saw footage of the damage that the quake had caused and the tsunami ripping through cities. It was scary seeing cars and homes being washed away like toys, knowing that they had people in them. We were and are thankful that we did not experience that horror and the people that were affected are in our thoughts. It’s almost unbelievable, especially to someone from the sturdy lands of Canada, that the carnage that is making world headlines happened just a few hours away.
Thank you for your concern, everyone! Lots of love from relatives, friends and you awesome readers from around the world! :D I hope that everyone affected and everyone that may be affected, especially places that are not as prepared as Japan, stays safe during this disaster.
On a much brighter note, Chapter 2 is complete! :D :D The Chapter 2 Summary is coming up (yup, more lame jokes from me) and Chapter 3 will follow!
Enjoy Scene 39 – “Regroup”!
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Have a great weekend!
*hugs* I hurt so much for all the people suffering over there right now, im glad you and your family are ok though, im praying for everyone… my home town crescent city got its harbor trashed by repeated tsunami, its scary cause it was my home for so long… but I cant even imagine what the people in japan must be going through, in some areas, it must feel like hell threw up all over their world…
Hey man, be GLAD it was Japan. If it wasn’t for their insanely strict anti-earthquake building codes, then you probably would have started to eat rubble.
On a more sober note… it seems as if people in America are more upset over losing a couple of boats (as occurred in California) or worried about the 7 foot tsunami that overtook Hawaii. I mean, SEVEN FEET. Japan had something like 21, right? And people are all, “KARMA, BITCHES!” – referring to Pearl Harbor. Not to mention the fact that it hit a couple of nuclear reactors too (which were stabilized, thank God…).
I believe it was the greatest earthquake on record for Japan, and I heard it was the fifth biggest since 2000 or something.
My friend goes to University in Beppu, Kyushu and he just Skyped me this morning and alerted me about the Tsunami. Thankfully he’s okay, and most of Kyushu was not affected by the tidal waves. Some of my other friends haven’t replied to my e-mails; God, I hope they aren’t in trouble.
@Curator – Yeah, it definitely must feel like that.
@The Stick – I’m thankful that Japan is so well-prepared for these disasters! I can’t believe that there are people out there that think like that. But, I like to forget about them and focus on the positive people. And yes, I think it was Japan’s strongest, since the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 was a 7.9.
@Semtex Gum – Glad to hear he’s okay! I hope your other friends are alright as well! Some areas may not have access to communication, so be patient and positive until you hear from them :D
I totally love that Hard Tack Bit. Reminds me of something in the forums…
Well Joe I am glad that you and your family is safe, second of all I love that ending with Joe yelling at Bernie hehehe I love that part. And did anyone else feel slightly odd when the Doc said a vamp hybrid is every scientist wet dream? Lastly @Joe I think your planning on Jess making a tough decision between her love for Terry and the love she has for Nick….you sir are an evil genius!
That was a nice way to end a good chapter :) i know how it feels having destruction only a few hours away; i live in wellington, new zealand and i have a lot of relatives down in christchurch. thankfully everyone’s okay, but it’s really weird seeing places i’ve been (the top of the spire on the cathedral, for example) ripped to pieces.
Still watching the news, just heard about he reactor breaching thing and possible meltdown. I’m pretty sure that given your last location of saying you were south of Tokyo I hope it puts you out of the range of this as well. I can believe people would think that way, it’s human to attack ourselves (as a race not as a individual) and is most of the reason I don’t care for people.
I hope that everyone is ok! I’m glad that you are okay and I’m relly relly sad that so meny people have died but I’m also glad that i live in sweden who proboly is the safest place in the WORLD! becus i hav never ever felt a earthquake or a tsunami or eny naturaldisaster i’m trying to kep update and i think that this is much like 9/11 or the tsunami in tailand and i was up late last night and listent how they talked about japan and a song who namde “begin japan” or somethink and on other hand i just love this episode! :D
When things like this happen all we can hope for is for people to call on their better nature to band together and help out, which many will answer the call
On another note the comic is great, I’m just glad you’re not going maniacal on us and killing off all the great characters, at least I feel it would be a little early for that
my wife,( she’s Japanese) and her family are all safe, after the big shakeup. I was hoping to go to Japan for my R&R, but the big Army says no. I think they are scared of Godzilla is coming out, or the nuclear power plants will make rad zombies, or something to the effect. But either way I can go to Japan, and be with my wife.
On another note, a web comic is awesome!!!!!! you have to make this into a book so I can buy copy.
Is this the longest episode so far? It definitely felt like it (In a good way, of course!)
@SirBounceAlot – Yup! The forums are a great place for inspiration! :D
@MorganrBan – Glad everyone’s okay!
@Tsumeken – Yeah, it’s really unfortunate. I like to think that, as a whole, people are good, but sometimes you do get those trolls.
@frida – I know how you feel! Being raised in Canada, I’ve never experienced anything like this (just blizzards!).
@oliver – I’m happy to hear that your family is safe and I hope you get to see your wife soon! Hmm… how would The Pocalypse look as a book? I have to think about that! :D
@Snerky – I think it was the longest (definitely one of the longest)! I just wanted Chapter 2 to be done! :D
Thank you for your thoughts, everyone!
That episode was sooo long!! And I thought it was going to end on 5 occasions!! Keep up the good work Joe! Glad you and your family are safe!
woo, that was along one! I’m looking forward to seeing Joe rescue Rosa, and what drama will come out of that, I bet the DramaLlama will rear it’s ugly head soon enough.
Longest bestest sweetest scene yet! Too bad about the things that happened in Japan… Earthquake, Tsunami, and there are some rumors over here about a nuclear weapon leaking radiation because of the incident… In short, it was worst than WW2!!!!!!!!!
Something’s amiss though… I can’t quite put my finger on it! There’s something about these earthquakes that seems connected… The one in Haiti and the one in Japan both happened at a moment in which the Earth’s plaques weren’t in a colliding position…
Either the world’s core is uplifting or someone is dealing with some new natural weapons… Those are some scary thoughts… I hope I’m mistaking these incidents and overthinking things…
THhe scene was soooo loooong but sooo nessary! Tied everything back up, and we’re back on track! But this whole Rosa Must be Saved plotline is really getting to me… I mean WE ALL know she’s dead, i say just let the dead die. Joe’s starting to seem more naive with every scene(but also more badass ironically).
@Neo – I doubt anybody would attack Haiti. They aren’t really a threat to anyone.
I have no idea what you are talking about re plate tectonics. Japan lies on an extremely active subduction zone. Japan gets about 1500 earthquakes per year.
angrybirds- Japan is in an areawhere earthquakes are common, but neither of that mass nor in that EXACT area where it originated…
And there are many countries that could make huge profits if Haiti’s condition, or any other country for that matter, worsened… History shows that humans don’t attack those who are threats, but those who are weak so as to enlarge their own kingdoms…
@Neo – If you get that specific you are correct. What’s the point? It’s hardly in an unusual spot. That entire subduction zone gets quakes because one plate is being forced under another and they scrape together. http://tinyurl.com/findquake
Nobody wants Haiti. It is desperately poor and has no natural resources (not even good soil, adequate drinking water, or even forests). It gets bombarded by constant hurricanes. There is no strategic value in occupying Haiti.
angrybirds- how about experimentation of new technology, stronghold for military weapons (AKA: dangerous), as well as a consumer relationship
What experiments and what weapons? Most experiments fail, and experiments dangerous and uncertain enough to require another country to use for testing seem like more mad scientist paranoia to me. Dangerous weapons don’t turn a profit. Haitans aren’t consumers. Haitians are subsistence farmers that rely on foreign aid to survive. They are among the poorest people in the world. Earthquaking them wouldn’t make them easier to invade because they have NO MILITARY. You would just be wrecking infrastructure such as roads and buildings that you would need to rebuild anyway to occupy the country.
angrybirds- you forget the principals of domination: those who are weak and need the most will ook upon you as their hero, even if you decide to end them.
It’s not so weapons render profit to them, but that they’ll have a place to experiment without law-interference as would happen in any other place. Places with people who are capable of great things or who fend off by themselves couldn’t be used in the past to experiment with atomical weapons, Cuba was used for that! Since Cuba is no longer available, they need a new place to experiment with weapons…
The Earthquake could easily be to make their condition much more deplorable to ensure they accepted their conditions when the time came…
As for the destroyed buildings, any military/religious/economical movement interested in domination can see they need to be destroyed and rebuilt because of their poor craftmanship… Using a natural accident and forcing the bank of united kingdoms’s aid to rebuild is cheaper than paying for demolishment AND rebuilding everything…
One must see what they would stand to gain from all of this…
PS- it’s no mistery EU is trying to make a weapon stronger than it’s AtomicBomb… some rumors go here about some sort of ProtonBomb, a bomb that strikes down protons from the surroundings… Hopefully, just an exageration, but with mankind who knows…?
I am glad to hear that you and yours are fine, and that no major damage occured to your home.