On disasters
Maybe it's just me, but it does seem that the level of personal reaction to disaster is proportional in some way to one's connection to it. (Well, it is for me. You may be a better human being than I am.)
I saw the news this morning and of course the first thing I thought of was my best friend, Shizu, who is first generation Japanese-American, and married to a Japanese man. I know they probably don't watch the news in the morning, so I called them at 8:30; I was the nth in a bunch of calls they'd already gotten. Apparently all their friends and family know their habits.
My next thought went to kateelliott, because HI is now on tsunami-watch. She has thoughtfully posted an update, though that region still remains on watch until the Pacific settles back down and re-earns its name.
It goes to the next level, too. I worry that friends of wuwt may be in Hawai'i's danger zone. Most of my California friends are inland, but they may have friends and family on the coast, also under tsunami watch. There are a number of SF/F writers in the Seattle area who are in similar situation.
I remember on 9/11 getting into my office and finding a million emails from people who hadn't contacted me in a long while, but were concerned. It's interesting how scary things can have the beneficial effect of renewing old friendships.
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Back to Shizu: the epicenter was pretty much in her husband's home town. But he got an email from a neighbor who said his parents were fine, so that much is good. They don't know the state of their home yet; I imagine that will require an engineer's inspection, but for now it is apparently still standing, though they were evacuated.
I worried that Shizu's mother might be visiting her homeland. Fortunately, no, she was at home in the Midwest, about as far from tsunamis as one can be. Shizu has friends in Tokyo that she has yet to hear from; some of them are people I met when I visited there, so I am concerned for them too. But odds are good they're fine, and we'll hear more soon.