Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Hope for Japan


The most powerful earthquake hit Japan on March 11th - the fifth strongest earthquake since 1900, which left 400,000 people homeless and it's expected to climb to tens of thousands. When my family and I watched the news, I was astounded by how powerful tsunami is. I've experienced a lot of earthquakes in the Philippines but never of such high magnitude. I remembered my grandpa always yelling at us to get out of the house but I would just stay in my bed – I've never taken earthquake very seriously up until now.

Japan holds a very special place in my heart. I watched anime growing up, my favorite manga artist and film director is Hayao Miyazaki, I admire Shinzi Katoh's work, I love their food, culture and most especially the people – they are one of the warmest and sweetest people I know. One of my very dear friends family lives in Japan and fortunately they were not affected by the earthquake. My heart goes to all Japanese people especially the 100,000 children who were displaced by the tsunami. Japan needs a lot of help, here's a list of organizations you can donate to.
  1. AMERICAN RED CROSS
  2. SAVE THE CHILDREN
  3. SALVATION ARMY
  4. AMERICARES
  5. INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS
  6. SHELTERBOX
Also if you're planning on attending the National Cherry Blossom Festival, Red Cross will be there to accept donations from March 26 to April 10. In addition Cafe Press designed a limited edition t-shirt in support of American Red Cross – all proceeds will go to Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami victims.

Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, sickness, of captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable.
~Samuel Johnson

1 comment:

Bella Sinclair said...

What a wonderful post. Japan is very special to me as well, and I couldn't help but cry as I saw pictures of the destruction and deaths. Your illustrations are adorable, and it's wonderful that you are contributing to the relief!