natural disasters forum

in light of the hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, fires, etc. that strike somewhere in the world many times every year, it seems like it would be a good idea to have a forum by which to follow these events. we have members worldwide but when i try to find, say something regarding the japanese tragedy and how it is effecting our dg members, i have to search all over the place to come up with even a snippet.

i remember when katrina hit, we had a whole forum just for that one hurricane and i'm not saying we need a forum for each disaster now but it would be nice if we had a "go to" place. hopefully it would be a quiet forum that wouldn't be used often but unfortunately disaster strikes all too often.

naturally this wouldn't fall in the realm of a current events forum (too much room for debate there)

thanks!

Great idea, TIS! I second the notion!

I agree. That would be so much simpler than searching through all of the known places that friends usually post hoping to see if they are able to communicate.

Sounds lilke a good plan to me.

thanks for the support. i know that usually a proposed forum has to get a lot of support before it goes into effect but i'm hoping that's not the case here and it can be "moved through" quickly.

I agree. Sure would make checking up on friends a lot easier.

i just heard from pajonica (jon) and he is ok. that is all i know. i d-mailed several dg subscribers in japan and jon is the first to respond.

Great news! He's the first one I thought about.

we have over 200 members in japan but only 5 (i think) subscribers. i only tried to contact the subscribers.

We have one member in Sendai, amadeojp. Two in Fukushima, sue_japan and ppaapphh. Many in Tokyo, of course. Hope they have survived.

Jon just now posted on Cubits that the nuclear reactor has exploded. I'm pretty sure he said he was about 100 miles from it. Jon and his family need our prayers, for sure. He did say the wind is currently blowing in a favorable direction for his location.

From Jon:
"The nuke reactor has just exploded no details as yet but the wind is in a favorable direction right now. no chance for us to escape! Have to wait it out.
Cheryl is quite right the whole north of the country is pretty much on shutdown priorities are aid and rescue! "

This message was edited Mar 13, 2011 9:58 PM

However, it has not damaged the plant's reactor vessel: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/14/japan-quake-reactor-idUSTKB00732620110314

going to bed with a heavy heart tonight.
keeping everyone in japan in my thoughts....as well as all of our aussie friends who have endured so much flooding recently.

just heard from goldenfish (naomi). she is safe and far from the destruction. she asks that those who pray, to pray.

There's also a thread that was started on the Prayer Requests forum: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1163607/

Thanks Faeden.

tomtom just checked in.....another one safe.

Echo putting up a forum. I was able to check with my sister about her former exchange students (they were OK)
With members so spread out..Much easier to be able to check one forum..as I don't always know where each is spending dg time.

Was forwarded this from a Japanese friend who got it from Sendai:


From my cousin in Sendai, Japan where she has lived for the past decade teaching English. Very moving!!

Hello My Lovely Family and Friends,

First I want to thank you so very much for your concern for me. I am very touched. I also wish to apologize for a generic message to you all. But it seems the best way at the moment to get my message to you.

Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend's home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets.

Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an
earthquake strikes. People keep saying, "Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another."

Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often.

We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on. But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not. No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.

There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun.

People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time.

Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled.

The mountains are Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently.

And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no.

They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is better off than others. Last night my friend's husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.

Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don't. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.

Thank you again for your care and Love of me,

With Love in return, to you all.

an amazing letter and point of view.
thanks, faeden.

I just watched some amazing videos on TV of neighbors helping others and of how how calm the shelters were. Their whole culture seems to focus on the community rather than themselves. It is so admirable.

You're welcome. Their culture is so amazing.

I just stumbled on this thread.

I agree... the need for a forum such as this would be valid for many of us that are removed from the tragedy but concerned with those involved.

Thank you for sharing that moving letter. Their dignity in times of adversity is a goal to strive for.

My heart is with the people located in Japan, my thoughts and prayers are with them also.

i did contact admin regarding the forming of a "disaster" thread and while they are sympathetic, they feel it could take a turn to the political side as did several threads during katrina. so for now we just have to muddle along the best we can and make sure that our hearts and minds stay in the right place regarding this and other tragedies here and around the world.

Boo hiss... LOL
I am sure some would take it that direction but most of us are adults and avoid that discussion.
Thanks much for the effort.

it's not just the politics - which we can and will police when there's an overriding need for a thread or forum on a potentially political topic. the other problem is that we've tried this with other natural disasters and there wasn't an apparent need for the forum itself. So for now, we'd prefer to have a thread - probably in this forum - for folks to check in when there is a disaster somewhere in the world, rather than having an unused forum that has to be monitored for offtopic stuff even if not used for its original purpose.

thanks terry. it's clear and i hope i explained it ok in my last post.
i guess what i wish more than anything is if people would just check in somewhere when there are problems.....but i guess if people are having problems of any magnitude, dg isn't a first priority.

In the early days of DG we had a 'buddy system.' Anyone who wanted to participate, would buddy with another DG member in a totally different area. If disaster struck...tornado, hurricane, earthquake...whatever, they would promise to contact their buddy, who would in turn, let DG know their situation. This kept private information private and each pair of buddies were comfortable with each other. It was an informal arrangement and we had no set structure...some members posted their 'emergency buddy's' name on their member page, but it wasn't mandatory...nothing was structured. It was simply a line of communication in case of major disasters.

I always go to the weather forum ... I wish everyone would check in there. It's the first place I look for updates, but I agree ... I usally don't find anything. Maybe people don't even know we have a weather forum. I miss those good ole days when we reached out to each other. I've wanted to help but couldn't find out how. I wish we could do that again. ☺
Hugs&blessings ... ~Susan

Susan, I miss that also. I never thought to check the weather forum..assuming that it had to do with changing weather patterns in regards to gardening.
Hugs back to you.

This message was edited Mar 24, 2011 6:10 PM

Marcia, if I remember correctly, most of all the hurricane-people watches were all in the Weather Forum, excepting the single forum they added for Katrina when it got to be so huge.

The coming together of DG folks in those days was amazing and heartfelt.

I didn't even know there was a weather forum.

~~~~~~~~waving to Darius..long time no see...I was so proud of how DG folk stepped up at the time of Katrina!
As I have posted less and less, I do lose track of where folks are...
Heading upstairs// 58 in here and I didn't put a sweater on. :0