The Earthquake and Tsunami

I know a few people have been wondering about things down here in Okinawa so I thought I would type up a quick report. Fortunately, we are doing well and have been physically unaffected by the quake. We did not feel it and although most of our friends were evacuated from their homes due to the tsunami warning, we live on higher ground so they all came here and spent the night. I curse our big hill every time I am coming home from a run or bike ride but it was a blessing that night! The tsunami did not hit and they were able to go home on Saturday.

The command released an official statement today saying we are not yet in any danger due to radiation and they will continue to monitor it very closely but do not expect it to be a problem as we are still a safe distance away.
In fact, we are such a "safe" distance they have extended the invitation to those families living on military bases up in mainland Japan who would like to relocate, to come here. Families on mainland Japan are being allowed to relocate but that option is not extended to us. In fact, just the opposite. They are not allowing any families to PCS (move) out or in.... so it will be interesting as all the families with orders to move try to figure out if they really can. That does include us, hopefully they will want us out of here soon to make room for the mainland families moving down but we'll see.

In the meantime, we are very thankful to be safe and continue to pray for the many, many people who are experiencing such heartache and loss at this time. Lots of people from here have gone up to help and we wish them the best! We'll try to take care of their families as best we can while they are gone. Men who were scheduled to come home are now staying out longer and I feel the strain that puts on their wives and kids. Pilots who were supposed to come home and been rerouted up north. One woman is about to have a baby and her husband was supposed to be home in time and now will not as his ship has turned and headed up north. So yes, we didn't feel the quake but we certainly feel its aftermath.