As many may know Japan had an earthquake on march 11, 2011. They also had a tsunami and then a nuculer power plant exploded, causing radiation in the area. Arounf 1600 are dead, more likly to be more later, around 2000 injuries and around 1500 missing. Many houses have burned down, crops destroyed,and many people and animals dead. This will take a whilw to recover from and let’s hope they get all the help they need and hope no more are dead. There a strong country and they can get though it.
It’s just awful 
. My condolences mean nothing, but they can have them anyways…
It was very shocking news to hear about what’s been happening over there. I will openly admit that I have never truly understood Japanese culture that well, but I have always known from their anime and from video games that they are very creative and innovative people, and I pray for their safety and that things will go okay for them. I just feel a little bad that I would have only known them for the media they’ve given us.
I feel really terrible for them. Japan has my heart tonight. I already loved them, but now…now… 
I feel IV’s Pain. I already have enough sympathy for Japan’s ways of life, but now, getting hit on the head by a giant sledgehammer of tsunamis and earthquakes AGAIN, i just don’t know if Japan can pull through after getting hit so violently by the many natural disasters that occur there.
Never Forget, 3/11…
I’m relieved to konw that my friends residing in Japan are safe. But my heart and prayers goes out to Japan.
What’s sad is that this has killed over 3x as many people as the events on 9/11 [SO FAR], and yet nobody in my country (and I assume the country of most of our posters) will care because it didn’t happen in America.
Will we have a national moment of silence for this? No. Because we don’t care what happens outside of our borders.
^ I think you’re being overly pessimistic. A lot of Americans as well as people from all over the world are fully aware of the extent of the disaster, thanks to extensive media coverage.
As I learn in my university course, there are several news values, proximity being one of them. If a tornado happens in Kentucky, chances are, a Bangladeshi would never hear of it. Similarly, if someone wins the Gold Medal in the Olympics in China, and you live in China, chances are you’d hear of it covered in your media. The fact of life is that there are many stories happening all over the world, but only a half-hour bulletin to cover it. So some news items get a bigger priority than others, based on the values like proximity, frequency, conflicts, logistics, etc.
This doesn’t mean that the media doesn’t ‘care’ about disasters. It just doesn’t have the time and resources to report on every single one. Something of this magnitude like the Japanese earthquake of course gets international coverage. Again, this depends on the country where it happened, and what is the importance of the country on a global scale (political, economic, or cultural). The Hurricane Katrina news got more coverage than the Kashmir Earthquake which happened a few weeks later, because the U.S. has political, economic, and cultural hegemony all over the world.
It also means that many people do care (such as yourself), as a result of being well-informed and having a global perspective by watching the 7 o’clock news and reading the newspapers, instead of playing video games and watching movies (something which I’m trying to inculcate for the former and curb on the latter). Knowledge is power; the more people know about what happens in their world, instead of being fixated on their local events and culture, the more people will actually care and do something about the grand themes like poverty, environmental preservation, good governance, human rights, etc.
By the way, I would like to extend my condolences and prayers to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami. My heart goes out to you.
Well, some people here care, but they would care a lot more if it happened here. Say what you like, but USA is pretty selfish in general.
Hah! you know, ironically my main character in my novel was influenced to believe that the US was quite selfish!
But, getting back to the matter, i do have a lot of sentiment for Japan, seeing that they’ve made a lot of progress in developing their culture much to ours in every way, as well as how my novel was mainly built around Japan, because i love the country so much and i wish to vacate there!
I don’t know what Americans you are talking about 
Do you know how many Humanitarian organizations originated in the US? Do you know how many Americans (and people around the world as well) take part in Relay for Life, KIVA, World Vision, Youth Works. Those are just some I’m a part of, there are thousands of Americans who do the same.
There are selfish people in the US, yes. But also in Russia, Brazil, Japan, Ghana. But you know what else? There are great SELFLESS people Russia, Brazil, Japan, Ghana, oh and the US as well. I’m sorry, but that generalization really grinds my gears.
There are 307,006,550 Americans living in the US, and all of them are selfish I suppose 
I believe a lot of people here care about the United States because of the magnitude of this tragedy. We are all hoping and praying that the worst won’t happen. We also don’t wish for bad things to happen to anyone.
Bear in mind, IV, EJE had that outburst because of the very idea that Americans are selfish, not because of you or anything, so don’t take it personally. 
I have to agree that not all Americans are selfish. It’s just a general stereotype. I think the image of the ‘ugly American’ (fat tourist who mangles foreign languages from phrase books while wearing loud Hawaiian prints and generally being an insensitive idiot… did I say too much? 
) is an outdated one. There are many kind-hearted, well-informed, and all-round world-aware Americans. I think the reason they get so much flak is that the American media and education is very well developed, so there’s less of an excuse for an American to not know, say, the capital of Honduras (It’s Tegucigalpa) as opposed to say, a Tibetan or Fijian who has less access to resources and general knowledge.
Also, America tends to have vested interests in only the countries that concern it. So, if an earthquake happens in, say, Ghana or Montenegro, it will be of less ‘importance’ than if a similar disaster happened in, say, China or Israel. This is mostly on the part of the government and what foreign policies they are pursuing at the moment, but there is almost always some knowledgeable and charitable Americans who will care.
And as EJE eloquently put it, there are Americans who participate in humanitarian efforts, just like there are people in the UK, Australia, Malaysia, Holland, Venenzuela, etc. And if you’re ignorant about disasters or what happens in the world, that’s okay, although it does pay to be as well-informed as possible, which is why I am a strong advocate of good education and international travel.
it is just terrible and shocking… My Prayers are with you JAPAN!
in homage of this horrible catastrophe, Shu Todoroki is my new Profile Picture in my Facebook Account
I’ve already liked several pages on facebook aobut saving japan and donated some money to help them.
Let’s just hope this problem is solved much faster than the decade long 9/11.
I’m tired of having to see the number 911 in almost everything that i look at, i want to see more 3/11 posters now!
Well, the number 11 has been a real terrible number for the world.
September, 11 = world trade center attack.
January, 11 = Haiti earthquake
March, 11 = Japan Earthquake
And now we’ve got people telling me that it’s gonna get worse before it gets better. I just want it to get better now.
It’s so unbelievable. An earthquake (the 5th largest in written history), a Tsunami, and a nuclear disaster. Eventually a financial disaster as well.
It’s hard to understand why these things happen.
you are forgetting one more:
March 11: Terrorist Attack in Spain (2004): The Madrid train bombings
I heard once that Califorina is supposed to get an hige earthquake in the next 30 years, it could be bigger then the ` 1906 one and 1989 one. Let’s hope not.