Tokyo Disneyland guests stranded following earthquake and tsunami

I find it amazing that Tokyo suffered the damage it did. The epicenter was really far away. Big shake!

Saw where it was the 5th strongest quake since 1900. Videos of the water moving cars and other large objects across farm fields was unreal.

They're now saying that the quake was a 9.0. That would make it 26% larger then they previously though.

Okay this line is scary
"police in Japan are suggesting that excess water from the tsunami along the coastline have filtered in to the soil and liquefied soil due to massive shaking from the earthquake."
I wonder if there's any chance the land the parks are built on could be unstable now?
Incidentally this reminds me of a (comic) story I've worked on that occurs years after an apocalyptic earthquake where most of California broke off and fell into the ocean. However, Disney reclaimed Disneyland from the sea and it is now called "Disney Island"

I can't even get my head around the death and destruction here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfp2dOAIYho

Truely unbeleivable. Wait untill video footage comes filtering out of Japan that non of has seen yet.

I'm in shock when I see those videos - everything they have is affected if not ruined, and that will certainly include structures in amusement parks. On NPR today they were talking about Japan's earthquake / safety codes and standards in building and the experts say that the main goal with seismic "redirection" is to save lives, not necessarily structures. So when a 100 year big boy like this comes along they can count on just about every structure to be compromised.

They also said another big problem for them is going to be liquification (liquifaction?) of the soil, resulting from a combination of the quake and the flooding tsunami - the results and impact of such may not be known for a while.

I suppose there's worse places to be stranded than Disneyland, but what a nightmare excursion it turned out to be for those 69,000 people. My heart goes out to everyone affected by this horrible disaster, and I pray by some miracle that's it not as bad as it looks.

Seeing the footage of the tsunami coming in, washing over so much civilization, and sucking back out to sea whatever it wished, makes my blood run cold. Just knowing that in all likelihood I'm seeing people die, breaks my heart. So much devastation, so much loss. I can't imagine how many people will have ended up losing their lives in this tragedy, but surely it will be more than the thousand number being bandied about.

The amazing thing is that it could have been much worse. The reports I've been reading imply that Tokyo proper is getting off relatively easy. Clearly that city is prepared for stuff like this. It's the more agricultural areas to the north that took the worst of it. Very scary. My awareness around living on the ring of fire is much, much higher now.

Jeff, I agree totally, I don't think many can even fathom northern mainland Japan. The question isn't whats damaged, The question is, Whats Left? They say the landmass of the island has changed significantly and some areas under water, may always be that way.

I heard that the entire island of Hakkaido moved 8 feet to the east.

Now at least three Nuke reactors in trouble five with problems. One of thems containment building exploded. Fukashima #1 and #2 is approaching the levels #1 was at when it exploded

I made a FirstGiving page for us to donate money to help. I encourage everyone here to either donate or to make a page for your friends to donate. Thanks. To donate, click here.

While your effort is admirable, sites like First Giving take money off the top of transactions to cover their own expenses. If people want all of their money to go to the cause, they should donate to organizations like the Red Cross directly.

First Giving is itself a non-profit. The cost of conducting a transaction will always fall somewhere, whether it's with the charity or a third party. Using First Giving is fine. GKTW uses them all of the time.

Amazing how most not for profit organizations have directors in charge with beachfront homes or obnoxious mansions. I'm not saying that we shouldn't help the cause, just makes me wonder how much money actually goes for what it supposed to go for. And, by the way Red Cross is guitly of this also. Darned near married a girl that worked for the Red Cross, so she told me all about it. Oh, and she made 60 grand a year just to take blood.

Okay, can back on beans.

Suprisingly, after a little research I found out that 96 cents out of a dollar goes to those who need it if donating to First Giving.

Some of the major losers were UNICEF 14 cents of every dollar.

Red Cross 39 cents of every dollar

United Way 51 cents of every dollar

I guess i'll break out my checkbook for first giving.

The people who work for those non-profits need to make a paycheck, or else no one would work for them, and the non-profit would cease to exist. It's necessary.

Not trying to make it seem even worse, but I should mention that FirstGiving is only a way to donate to these non-profits. FirstGiving takes their share, to cover the costs of running the company, then gives the rest to the charity, who, in this case, would be Red Cross. Red Cross then takes their share, and the rest goes to relief efforts. I believe that the quoted 39 cents of every dollar that Red Cross takes not only pays salaries, utilities, and office space, but also pays for stuff like transporting supplies and volunteers. Once again, it is necessary. If more people donated to them, the percentage that they must take to run the business would be less.

If people have a problem with FirstGiving taking ¢4 out of every dollar, they can walk right up to their local Red Cross building and donate that way. There aren't a lot of people who will do that though, and that's why FirstGiving is a great way to solicit donations.

Sorry for the double post here, but I wanted to change the mood...

One donation was received, so far, by one of our CoasterBuzz friends. My goal is $200, and so far, we need $195 to go. We know that FirstGiving is a safe and easy way to donate.