Monday Evening March 14

Hello-

Well it was a beautiful day, well into the 60's. We were outside most of the day which was great for cabin fever. Our scheduled power outage was canceled so that was nice although I still had lots of laundry to do.

Aaron got home earlier today. They were able to fix the plane, went to Korea to pick up some generators then up to Misawa Air Base. He was put in crew rest this evening and may have other missions in the future. This week is all about flexibility and availability.

The New South Wales Search and Rescue team (76 people) from Australia arrived this morning. I am not sure if they are staging out of here or if they are being transported north and staying up there. Most of them are just coming home from the earthquake they had not too long ago in New Zealand.

The Marines are here with helicopters, there are Chinooks here as well. We were outside when 3 in formation flew over the house on approach to land, WOW they are L~O~U~D!!

In the news today, a 3rd reactor building exploded. We are safe, the core is being cooled my sea water currently-actually-I think all the cores are being treated the same way. It's the first time this technique has been used for this kind of disaster. So far so good, seems to be working. A 20 KM area around the plant has been evacuated, some of the workers were hurt, but no one was killed.

The earthquake (EQ) was upgraded from an 8.8 to a 9.0 by the Japanese government after doing some more study. We are expecting more EQs -not just aftershocks-in the near future so that will be fun. They are supposed to be around the same place the original EQ.

So, we are fine. Sarah had a field trip scheduled for Wednesday to West Tokyo, but it was postponed. The driving and traffic are so unpredictable and I am not sure I want to be so far away from Sophie-who will be at a babysitter here on base. So it's for the best although Sarah is pretty disappointed. I felt pretty bad for her, but I think she understands why.

We are getting used to this new normal of delays, changes in plans, not knowing what to expect from day to day and sometimes hour to hour.

People are asking what they can do to help and I say to pray. And really, that is the most powerful thing anyone can do. Please don't downplay or deny your actions when you say that all you can do is pray, like it's a last resort, it is not the last resort, it should be our first reaction. So please continue to pray.

Pray specifically for:

Those trapped in the rubble- I can't imagine the loneliness and fear they feel. It's also very cold up there, Aaron said they still have snow on the ground so I can only imagine what they struggle through.

Basic needs-many are still in the clothes they wore days ago living with shock and terror and the not knowing. Cell service is still sketchy in the outlying areas, but in the hard hit areas, I don't know how long that will take. Food and heat are hard still hard to come by. There is a shortage of heating oil traditionally used by Japanese to heat there house.

Lost people-the numbers of lost people in the different areas are mind boggling.

Those dealing with known losses-this is so heartbreaking. It's always shocking, but it breaks your heart.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers, we are doing well and getting back into a normal schedule. It seems a little strange doing that, but we really have no other choice and in a way, it's what is needed now and it feels good.

The latest link is the Japanese news feed translated in English. Also in the right corner of this website is an updated English newscast.

www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/index.html

To keep track of Yokota happenings, click on the News header.

www.yokota.af.mil