fukuoka earthquake

As I promised in an earlier post, these are newly posted photos from our time in Fukuoka, Japan.

You can see the entire story in photos and text here

'Fukuoka hasn't had an earthquake in 100 years-- nor a major one for centuries!'

they'd told me -- surprising for this earthquake-prone country-- however, this changed March 5^th, 2005, when our home in western Fukuoka shimmied and shook for nearly a minute. A major earthquake had struck just off the coast.

We survived with minimal damage, checked our neighbors and called our friends. One, alone with two small kids in a badly shook up top floor apartment, was panicking with the frequent aftershocks (BTW, they continued for weeks), so a few of us went to help.

On the way met a friend gripping newspapers with graphic photos showing nearly every home on her island destroyed. She told us, 'They had to leave without even their shoes.' and asked us to help.

At the shelter with a team of 'Family International' volunteers, they nearly turned us away, saying they'd provided everything, until the island's kindergarten teacher excitedly asked if we could do something for the kids...

You can also read more details on the quake at wikipedia