Current situation in Sendai

Two weeks have passed since this M9.0 earthquake. There still continue small earthquakes, but it seems they are gradually settled down. The lifelines in the downtown of Sendai have become better now; electricity and water supply are available, but gas service is not. People are suffering from the shortage of gasoline, and we need to make a line and wait several hours. The situation at Fukushima nuclear plants continuously needs be watched, but fortunately, we are 95 km far from them.

WHO Information: Japan Nuclear Concern 

Our Tohoku University School of Medicine has already been at the stage of restoration. Since there are lots of damaged facilities, we are now asking for the donation.
Information for donation

Our lab has almost been cleaned, but we need to wait to oder new facilities and equipments because the delivering service is not in the normal condition. Some of my students are now in other laboratories outside Sendai to learn new techniques or just to join. I hope this would be the sunny side of this disaster for them.

I was supposed to organize a meeting in Matsushima, one of the most beautiful sceneries in Japan, near Sendai. Due to those tsunamis, the town was almost destroyed. So, we have changed the venue to Kobe, the city that has completely revived after the big earthquake in 1995. The website will announce about detail soon.
Neurogenesis 2011 in Kobe

I really appreciate kind offering within and outside Japan for accepting students and/or escaping from Sendai that I have got during these two weeks, and I also hope kind understanding that the current life in the campus of Tohoku University is not at the stage of crisis.

Big earthquake on 3.11 and atomic energy station accidents

The biggest earthquake in Japan happened here in Tohoku areas on the last Friday, March 11th. The power was M9.0 and more than that in Kansai area in 1995. Moreover, the big difference was, people in the coast areas have been suffering very large Tsunamis, which were spread all over villages and towns near the cost. The damage in the downtown in Sendai is much better, although shelves fell down, samples in deep freezers were melt due to lack of electricity overnight, and facilities were broken in many laboratories. Life lines are still unavailable in many areas. My lab and my apartment were both on the 9th floor, and severely damaged. We need sometime to restore the situation in spite of several additional earthquakes.

In addition to the earthquake and tsunamis, we are now worrying about the situation of atomic energy stations in Fukushima situated the south of Tohoku. We hope Japanese experts can overcome this condition as soon as possible.

It is sad that most of media distribute the most terrible scenery not only in Japan but also overseas. Although Japan is a small country, the southern part of Japan is totally non-damaged. Even in Tohoku areas, the situation is different in various cities, towns and villages.

I really feel sorry about victims in the big earthquake and tsunamis. We will stand up by fixing little by little.

Here are some information in English:
Earthquake Info in English @wiki
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