[jhfkgkfdvjk]

A big earthquake struck northern Japan a few minutes ago. We had just ended a video-chat with my wife's father who was thanking us for his Father's Day gift, when he suddenly called back to say that they were okay.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...EVIUss8jKugfcA

Hope all family, friends, and forum members in the area are okay and didn't freak and rush out into traffic...

[lorrieholdridge]

The epicenter was pretty close to me. It was centered in southwestern Iwate; I'm in the northwest corner of Miyagi. As it happened at 8:43, I was still in bed on the second floor of my house. While not the first time I've been woken up by an earthquake, this is certainly the biggest I've been in.

The news here reports it as a 7.2 magnitude quake resulting in three deaths, a few more missing, and one building in Ichinoseki collapsed. The biggest "damage" seems to be landslides up in the mountains.

It feels like I'm going to spend the next week getting everything in my house back in order. Having nothing but open shelves (no cupboards) in my kitchen sucks.

[valentinesdayyy]

Glad you're OK, Kent-san. Same with Nebosuke-san's FiL.

When Hawaii had its 6.9 shaker a couple of years ago, it was scary!!!

[hieklyintinee]

Wow...didn't even feel it in Kamakura. Glad you're ok up there.