http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.earthquake.tsunami.earth/index.html?hpt=T1


I hope that link works as not sure of what button to use for links. If not, this article is from CNN that's basically saying the quake has moved the coast 8 ft and shifted the earth axis. Having watched so much news footage I amost feel numbed by the Apocalyptic scenes.

Utter despair

I have a link here to before and after pics taken by satelite. just hover your mouse over the images to see them. Total devastation.
ABC News - Japan Earthquake: before and after

A third explosion at the Fukushima nuclear plant Surely this can't go on?

All these explosions although played down by the Govt surely must have damaged cooling pipes/electrical insallations at the plant ? And also if there are explosions- who is going to stay there to monitor the situation?  I fear the worst is yet to come.

Peter Cat,I've been thinking of you throughout this terrible event.

Shut up.

To far? 

Do you really need to ask that?

Yes, really.  There's bad taste jokes flying around on every network, every mobile phone provider, every news media message board, every social medium, so aye, I did. 


I thought it was a poor taste but relatively witty joke.  The same as appears 3 1/2 seconds after every disaster in this world *shrug*

Thanks, cologne

Jolly good. Carry on....

Great

Yes it's definately too soon for 'jokes' about this. In fact, I don't think it will ever be appropriate to take the piss out of this. A little bit of thought and consideration and sensitivity wouldn't go amiss. This is one of the worst disasters the world has ever. How would you feel if one of your loved ones had been out there and had not been seen or heard of since last Friday?

I received the first joke about this on Friday night!!

TBH I think we need jokes in situations like this - now I know that may sound harsh but we can't dwell on it.  This situation is beyond comprehension for most of us and it really is frightening to think that such a thing can happen and unfortunately as per usual the media play on that and scare people, therefore jokes are needed to give people a sense of relaity.  As long as there is no nasty intention (which for the vast majority of people there isn't) and people don't rub such jokes in the faces of those directly affected I think a little time not looking at the negatives can be beneficial.

yeah its well funny!

Yeah.

Anyone who can joke about this needs to be put in the situation the Japanese find themselves in. There's no such thing as laughing 'with' people surrounded by their dying countrymen so we have to assume you're laughing 'at' them which really is scum behaviour.  Let's see how hilarious they find it first hand should they ever find themselves in tragic circumstances.

Trust pretty-p to finally open her big gob when she sees an opening to be highly controversial on a thread many people find very upsetting. My suggestion: DON'T let her make this thread all about her it's not an attention-seeking tool for her or anyone else, ignore her.

I have to say I agree massively with you Prom, and really even if people think it hilarious to make jokes about tragedy... it really is too soon...   As I said, I believe there will NEVER be a good time to joke about this tragedy.  

I agree that we should really ignore PP's comments...  it came as no shock to me that she said what she did TBH.  Let's not give her the pleasure of us getting wound up.

 Thank you Benny Hill  

Yes, reading about babies and children dying and children losing their parents is highly f**king hilarious and one should always see the humour of such a situation.

I'll be sure to LMAO when PP is swept away by a 30ft wave,hilarious

I think some people are choosing to misunderstand my point here.  I am not saying what happened is in any way funny - that couldn't be further from what I am saying.  What happened was awful and like I said most of us could never comprehend what has happened but what I am saying is that as well as grieving for those that have been lost and sympathising with those that have lost everything we need to get on with life.  If it was up to the media that would never happen and we would all be sat fearing that something like that might happen to us we need to counteract that and small jokes like the one made earlier on this thread are a good way of doing that - it is not dis-respectful it's just one way of dealing with an unthinkable situation.

Well maybe you need humour.

I'll just watch in horror.

 yeah and you've backed him up  

Yes, I can't believe I'm glued to the news for all the wrong reasons  I was going to say watching in disbelief but I don't even know if that's the right word 

So we are not supposed to feel for these people? Instead just give a nod of respect at their loss but then gloss over it all with sick humour and carry on? May suit some, but to see thousands of people lose absolutely everything they have worked and strived for in seconds and kids crying for parents they'll never see again is not something I find particularly amusing. And the media are not bloody scaremongering ffs. It's not as if they have said that the UK are at a level 1 threat of a tsunami

In fact in this instance, I have found the media coverage (particularly from the BBC) to be well informed, sensitive and dignified. Not sensationalised in any way whatsoever.

I do hope that something equally as devastating doesn't happen in this country and that those who find this such a non-eventful situation to have emotion about do not find themselves faced with similar circumstances as the survivors of the events in Japan.


Actually, on second thoughts, I do.

Come on folks, is anybody really shocked at PrettyP's reply?  It was a foregone conclusion that she would put something like this.  I choose to not respond to it. 

TBF she didn't start it did she?!!!!?  

Sorry but not sure what you're saying.

Lame defence. 

What I find so hearbreaking and so admirable is the utter dignity and determination by the Japanese people to carry on. There is a photo of some of them washing clothes in a river - the river is probably dirty yet to them it is important to try and get some normality back.

Yes, I thought that too Issy, a lot of of them seeming to be so calm in the face of what's happened and getting on with things and thinking its happened - we'll deal with it

I couldn't agree more ........it's heartbreaking.

Good post Issy. 

They are an ancient people who have historically been through a lot - perhaps this is how they cope?
 I don't know but I do find their dignity so humbling.

I think in situations like this there are only 2 ways that people react - some will go to pieces immediately whilst others will just pick themselves up and get on with it.

Yes, you could be right