devastating devastation

(Photograph of a baby recovered amongst the debris)

On Friday 11th March, a tremendous 9 scale earthquake hit Japan shortly followed by the 23 metre high tsunami that thrashed the East coast of the country. Thousands dead, thousands homeless, thousands mourning... Two weeks on, Channel 4 has produced a documentary - Japan's Tsunami: How It Happened. The hour long documentary provides us with the science behind the quake, but most importantly highlighted the disappointment and devastation caused by these tragic events. Watching the recovering of bodies and personal possessions made me realise the seriousness of this disaster. As one of the searchers pulls a photo frame from the muddy ground, that's when it hit me. Of course I knew all along that this was a real crisis affecting real people, but the recovery of that picture struck a nerve. Whole towns were wiped off the map, and with that people's families, homes and memories were washed away as the flood waters subsided. and The documentary rightly puts it - "this was first and foremost a human tragedy on an unimaginable scale... one of the World's most developed nations, brought to it's knees." If you can give at all, please do. Click here to find out more.