One of my cousins replied and he and his family and my aunt and uncle are all away from the worst hit and his sister - who lives in one of the worst hit places (Iwate Prefecture) happens to be in Hokkaido doing research so she is also safe.

I'm very relieved.

Oh god, what horrible news to wake up to.

Seriously, though Sumi's news makes it a little easier.

More pictures.

I'm glad to hear that, sumi.

sumi, I'm glad your family is safe, and was able to ease your fears so quickly. One point for this interweb-tube-thingy.

bt, I think my DH will be on the radio program Late Night Live on your continent on Monday. Unfortunately, they are not flying us in for this. Listen for a crying 22 month old in the background!

Sumi, what a relief for your family.

My friends are in Tokyo and have checked in safe. They are stranded away from where they were staying (no transport available), but have gotten hospitality from friends of friends and have a safe place to stay.

I am stunned by the earthquake resistance of the buildings in Japan. This was a BIG earthquake, and very little damage. People report being like popcorn in a pan, but the buildings stayed up. Go team engineering.

Sumi, I am glad to hear your family are safe.

As quickly as news does come to social media, I'm finding it hard to get my head around the enormity of this quake just from tweets and pictures.

And in happier news, my coworker visited with her goldendoodle puppy, who is already bigger than Boomer, our usual Friday visitor: [link]

Safety-ma for anyone with folks in the area of the quake and the tsunami.

Hippo birdies, tommyrot!

Happy Birthday Tommy!