Its no secret, even if you have been living under a a rock.
On March 11, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Northeast Japan spawned a ferocious tsunami that's caused massive destruction; flattening whole cities, starting raging fires, and killing hundreds.
I felt terrible when I heard about the disasters in Japan. I was so busy enjoying my vacay that I completely disconnected from the world around me. YES I was having *that* much fun. I did not want to beat myself up too much about being oblivious to the disaster because I could not have done anything to change the scope of the tragedy. I could not have deployed planes to evacuate people. I could not have built a dam to stop the water. My heart immediately went out to the people of Japan and to one of my former colleagues who is currently living in the area.
When my cab driver told my friends and I about the disaster my heart dropped. I read this "One oil refinery went up in flames about 40 miles outside Tokyo, 11 nuclear plants were shut down and a nuclear emergency was declared for one because its emergency cooling systems stopped working. Officials there say the situation is under control and there's no danger of fallout" and then I saw this footage. You can view more raw footage here. I did not have to see the footage because reading stories like the one below was a wake up call for me to step up and do something.
The magnitude-8.9 earthquake triggered a tsunami that swept as far as 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) inland along the northern coast, killing 1,597 at the latest count and risking meltdowns at two nuclear reactors. More than 350,000 people are in emergency shelters. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Sunday the government would use 200 billion yen ($2.4 billion) of money left over from the budget for the fiscal year ending March 31 to start an extra spending package.
Celebs have been tweeting and Facebooking about how you can help and you may not have felt compelled to do so. To a certain extent I guess I can understand how one could think twice before offering help. After all, there haven't been any texting drives to help all the Young Professionals who pursued their education but have failed to secure jobs to pay back Aunt Sallie Mae and Uncle Sam. Trust me, I know how it feels BUT that does not mean Japan needs you any less. Set aside your qualms with the world for a few moments and send positive vibes (in the form of money, prayers, etc) to the people affected by the quake and subsequent Tsunami in Japan. Consider this my personal plea for all Young Professionals to step up and support Japan during their time of need. It is no longer a question of whether they need it, the time is now to step up and contribute.
How YOU can help:
People residing in the US can just key in donate to Red Cross via mobile phone but if you're outside the country you can still help the victims thru donation using Apple iTunes. If you have credits in iTunes store you can visit the Red Cross donation page, wherein you can donate $5 up to $200.
NOTE: This post will be updated as I verify other reputable sources to donate. Feel free to share tips in the comments section.
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