First of all I would like to thank everyone for their concern. It's always nice to know that so many people love and support us in our journey. As of right now we are still headed to Okinawa in August. That is still several months away so there is time for the situation to resolve. I am sure we will know much more in the coming days and weeks.
The island was relatively unaffected by the earthquake and tsunami. They had a tidal surge of 8 inches. As reported the island is unchanged and life is continuing as normal. As a precaution the U.S. military bases had their residents who live in low lying areas evacuate to places of higher elevations during the Tsunami watch which has since ended and residents are back in their homes. There are many tried and true contingency plans for events that include tsunamis, earthquakes, and typhoons. The safety of U.S. military and their families is a priority. Many units from all branches of our military stationed on Okinawa have been deployed in support of the crisis in northern Japan.
Second. Okinawa is not very close to mainland Japan. It is actually closer to Taiwan. It is roughly 1500 kilometers from where the tsunami hit, and where the radiation/nuclear issues are taking place. In fact some people are actually evacuating to Okinawa. If you hear of bad stuff happening to Taiwan, thats when we need to worry more. As of right now, the winds are blowing everything to the southwest toward Tokyo, and then in an easterly direction out to sea. This is indicative of where a nuclear cloud will go if there is a full scale meltdown. Not good for other areas, but Okinawa will again more than likely dodge the bullet.
Lastly, if there was a need for the U.S. to evacuate it's people from the island, I would assume the Army would give us instructions on how to proceed. I don't know where we would report, I don't know what would happen to our stuff. I have no information or idea of what would happen. However, my husband's orders will not change. He will still need to report to that unit and currently his unit is stationed out of Okinawa. Unless they re-station that particular unit, we will go wherever they are.
I have been and will be staying on top of the situation. Thank you again for all your concern.
-Stephanie
Your post gives me goosebumps. The patriotic spirit you elude is an answer to prayers. Thank you, sweet child of God, for sharing. Aunt Barbie
ReplyDeleteWe've been living on Okinawa almost 3 years now and love it! It is totally safe. There are 100 or so people being evacuated TO Okinawa. Hopefully, that will put my family and friends at ease.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing. On 27 FEB 10 we had a 7.0 earthquake here. It was the worst one in 90 years and almost no one heard about it. I thought I was going to die that day. I pretty much didn't hear from anyone. But, now that this has happened and we're more than 1,100 miles away people are asking what we need, what they can send, was there any earthquake damage to the house. Sigh.
Anyway, you will LOVE it here!