The Red Cross is accepting donations earmarked for earthquake and tsunami relief. You can go to their website at www.redcross.org.
Alternatively–and what we’ve just done–is that you can text REDCROSS to 90999 from your cell phone which will result in a $10 donation.
Help if you can.
PAD
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Thank you for this information.
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Those of us who are anime, manga, J-Horror fans need to step up to the plate and give back something to the culture that has so enriched our lives.
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The power of this earthquake is almost beyond belief. As terrible as the news has been I am amazed at how little damage to the building was–we need to look at what they did from an engineering standpoint. The New Madrid is our own ticking time bomb. Our modern civilization has become ever more dependent on a foundation that may not be able to stand up to what nature can–and inevitably will–throw at us.
Excellent point, and I’m abashed that it didn’t occur to me. Definitely anyone who has enjoyed Japanese contribution to the comic arts should be using this as an opportunity to give back.
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PAD
I’m not sure I see the logic there. I don’t see how enjoyment of Japanese pop culture should make one more likely to donate to a disaster relief fund that happens to be for Japan. There’s an implication that it would be less important to donate to, say, Botswana, because they haven’t contributed anything to your life, culturally. A better statement would be, “Those of us who are human need to step up to the plate.”
In which case you will have an opportunity every day of the week to give until it’s all gone. There is never a time when there are not huge masses of humanity starving or suffering the ravages of disasters both from nature and man.
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But of course, very few of us actually donate until it hurts. Our donations come from what we see as what we can afford to give, it usually requires little sacrifice.
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But when it hits home it drives us to dig a little deeper and give a little more. I participated in a relay for life event this morning and while I could have chosen to give my time to any one of the 12 zillion diseases that afflict us I chose a cancer benefit because I have loved ones who died from it. They were in all probability no better people than the ones who died from other diseases but they meant more to me and thus I had the incentive to get up off my ášš and contribute a small part to a good cause.
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If that makes me in some way selfish so be it. When I hear about a fire that killed a bunch of kids in Pennsylvania i think “How sad.” When my cat dies I am inconsolable for a day.
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What I’m saying is here is a country and culture that has given many of us here moments to treasure. Above and beyond our desire to help fellow humans, here is a case where we should dig a little deeper, give a little more, make a bigger sacrifice. By all means donate to Botswana or the folks down the street or spin a globe and jab your finger randomly into some spot, a guarantee there will be a need there (unless it’s in the middle of an ocean (which, odds wise, it will likely be). But I see no harm in suggesting that maybe every Japanese horror/sci-fi/giant monster fan consider donating at least the cost of a DVD to the Red Cross.
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We pick and choose our battles and we do the same with our acts of generosity. I submit that here is a good pick.
Okay, fair enough. I think it was more the way you worded it that threw me off.
Don’t forget those of us who are tokusatsu fans. Me, I’m a big fan of Kamen Rider, Super Sentai and various other Japanese kids’ show super-heroes.
Well, they need heroes more than ever over there. So, it’s time to step up and do our part.
“Okay, fair enough. I think it was more the way you worded it that threw me off.”
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No harm, we’re all on the same page here.
Agreed, Bill — both about anime fans and about the sheer power of this quake. The video clip where you can see the tsunami moving through while carrying still-flaming buildings is pretty dámņëd terrifying.
Whoops. The bold should have ended at “buildings.” My bad.
The scariest part of that video, besides the floating, flaming buildings, is that the whole thing is heading toward a road with cars on it, some of which are desperately trying to turn around and flee. They cut before it hits the road; I can well imagine why.
Done….Thanks for the heads up PAD. Though it feels spectacularly inadequate but I suppose every bit helps.
I wish I could just reach through the TV and lend a hand.
I have a feeling that this is going to get a lot worse. I think they are severely downplaying the damage to the nuke power plants. Hope they have that under control.
I donated Friday. I can’t believe some of the pictures coming out of Japan this week.
I did too, just as soon as I saw them on the street asking for donations near a Mall I was going to visit.
Just a few years ago I had to tell my classes about Tsunamis but all I could show were a few bad films of the event in Hilo Hawaii. Now tsunamis are one of the most documented of all the great natural disasters.
I’ve heard that donations by text message aren’t necessarily the best, since they take some time to clear and are often processed by third party services that may deduct fees. Might be something to keep in mind, if you’re one to take special interest in maximizing one’s charitable donations…
Just made my donation to the ARC. Sure looks like they’re gonna need it and more…
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html?hp
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Absolutely terrifying satellite images of the devastation–you can use a slider to see the before and after. I have to think the death toll will be much higher than it is now.
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You know what? I don’t want to look. I really, really don’t want to look. I know it’s bad there. I don’t need to see the suffering, even in long shot, right now.
(Live from Japan)
Don’t worry the anime/manga and the Tokatsu are secured at the moment.
That was for the funny part, now let’s get serious.
I don’t know what has been shown on American TV, but I know that on European TV they concentrated on Tokyo, which was relatively safe compared to Northern areas of Japan.
There were a few victims in the Tokyo area against thousands in Miyagi prefecture. In the North most people are in the cold without electricty and without an house anymore.
The thing about Tokyo is that they might have another Big One in the upcoming days. If that really happens that would be terrible. Everyone is also really worried about the Reactors. At the moment we’ve been watching smoke getting out of the 3rd Fûkûšhìmá reactor for nearly an hour on Japanese TV.
People like me living in a safe area, feel really powerless against those events. Even if we’d like to help there nothing we can do except donate. So I wanna thank all those of you who donated or are going to donate. Thank you very much.