Sendai Quake--Update

I have been in San Diego this week visiting my family--just me.  My husband and kids are in Yokohama.
An 8.9 quake just hit off the coast of Sendai, a city about 30 or 40 miles north of Tokyo.  A 30ft tsunami has hit the coast. I was talking to my husband about three hours before it happened.  He just happened to be at home today instead of in Tokyo--Teddy had a cold, so he stayed home.

I can't get through--I can't call.  I think they have no power.  I can't skype or email him either.  My brother-in-law and his family are in Tokyo not far from Chiba.  My hands are shaking badly enough I can hardly type this.  I have never traveled without my family.  I was supposed to fly out tomorrow--but I have no idea whether flights can still go into Haneda or not.  I don't know whether I can get home.

Yokohama is ok, I think--it's farther south.  I think they are ok, but I don't know since I can't call or get through.

This is the big one--but it hit Sendai, not Tokyo or Yokohama.

I am crying for the people of Sendai and the coastal towns that have just been swept away--no figures have been released yet.  They don't have any idea how many people have died.  My computer is on Japan time--it hit at 2:46pm in the afternoon.  People were out in cars, on trains, in buses, walking.  Children were still in school or just starting to walk home.  I can hardly bear to think how many people have just been killed.  How many children have just been killed.

I don't know whether Mr. Harris is ok or not--or whether he's in England.

I apologize if this is hard to read-- I hardly know what I'm writing.  I hyperventilated when my sister called me on skype because I didn't have the tv on.  Tsunamis will probably hit Taiwan, Hawaii, Guam, Indonesia as well.  I have family in Hawaii (Oahu) as well.

I wish I had more information.

There is a major tsunami warning for sagami bay and tokyo bay.  I still don't know anything.  I don't know where they are.  Whether they are evacuating to higher ground.  my husband was at home with Teddy when it hit instead of  at work in Tokyo, so my kids are with him and not alone.  People in Tokyo are stuck there because all public transportation has shut down.

A tsunami warning has also just been issued for the west coast of the US--including San Diego where I am now.  This area is fairly close to the coast.  They just said some areas of Tokyo are also submerged--I don't anything about Yokohama, which is a major port.

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This is a link to an article from someone living in Yokohama when it hit.  I know my husband and Teddy were at home and Koshi and Cici would have been still at school.  School children know to get under furniture, or under their school desks at school.  I'm saying this trying not to imagine that Teddy might have been injured at home by something falling.  Our big cabinets are bolted to the wall, but the ones in the north room are not.  I hope he was in the tatami room lying down on the futon since there isn't that much in that room.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/the-house-is-a-complete-mess-20110311-1breq.html

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I just got a video Skype call from my husband.  They are all fine--I could see Koshi, Teddy, and Cici.   No one was injured.  My husband had just left the house to pick Cici up from school when the quake hit--Teddy was alone in the house.  He knew to go right under the table.  My husband ran back home to get Teddy, then they both went to school to pick up Cici and Koshi.  My mother-and father-in-law also drove over from Ofuna (20 minutes away).  They have returned home now.  Our building is not damaged, and the area seems to be ok, but is still under Tsunami warning.  I still don't know when I will be able to get home.  All flights into Tokyo are cancelled indefinitely.  I heard that the US army and navy bases are letting planes that have been stuck in the air land on the bases.

Thank you so much to all who have been thinking of me and my family.  We were the lucky ones.  It could have been much worse.

If Pat Robertson says even one word about god's justice, I will personally find him and beat his face in.

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I'm going to try to lay down for a little bit.  Thank you again and again to all of you who have been concerned for my family's safety and mine.  If you could see me, I am on the floor bowing my thanks to you for your kindness.  I can hardly express how grateful I am.  I can hardly bear to think how many people--how many children--have been killed in Sendai.