Earthquakes and Tsunamis: Shared Sorrow

WC’s thoughts and sympathies are with the citizens of Japan, especially those on the east shore of Honshu. The images, videos and reports coming out of Japan this morning are, frankly, horrifying.

Alaska has its own sad history of earthquakes and tsunamis, of course; WC was in Alaska for the 1964 Good Friday Quake. He lost friends on the dock in Valdez. Like a lot of other Alaskans, he was shaken by the 2002 Denali Fault Quake, and learned to fill his coffee cup only half full during the weeks of aftershocks so his coffee wouldn’t slosh on his desk. Alaskans, like the Japanese, have an uneasy familiarity  with earthquakes, but we are never blasé, never comfortable with them.

Japan is better prepared than any other country on the planet for this kind of disaster, but it will still be hard. Sorrow and anguish lie ahead. Planning and preparation will have saved lives, but not all lives. Lives, hopes and dreams will have all been destroyed.

Again, WC’s thoughts and sympathies.

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