This is Leah Zoller, writing from Ishikawa prefecture. On Friday, 11 March 2011, at 2:46 pm JST, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Miyagi Prefecture. There is extensive damage, flooding, and fires in Northeastern Honshu. A tsunami has hit the coast near Miyagi and Fukushima, and the area near the Fukushima prefecture nuclear power plant is being evacuated.

This morning at 3:59 am and 4:32 am, two earthquakes hit Nagano and Niigata prefectures.

Although there is no lack of information online, The Japan Times has one of the more detailed articles here.

Stay up-to-date with earthquake and tsunami information at the Japan Meteorological Agency. (Japanese and English)

If you are looking for your loved ones or want to let people know you are okay in Japan, please use/register at

Google People Finder (English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean)–you can also post information for other people

Red Cross Safe and Well

To donate to relief efforts:

If you want to help aid efforts from the US, you can text-message donations of $10 to the Red Cross, or donate on the website link. If texting, text the letters REDCROSS to 90999 to make the $10 donation. (This will be added to your cell phone bill).

If you are in Japan, Red Cross Japan is accepting credit card and conbini donations. The website is experiencing high volume and may be down sometimes.

If you have information on relief efforts or how to find people, please comment.