We are fragile

As I watch the horrifying videos coming out of Japan, I am once again reminded of how little we truly control. When I see those faces, filled with terror, my heart breaks. Not only are they in that moment fearing for their lives but it is so much more. Imagine yourself there, feeling the earth move in waves under your feet so hard that you can't stand. Imagine your mind racing, will I live, where is my family, will I have a home, will my job still be here?
Are any of us here prepared for this type of disaster? I don't think many of us Americans can imagine this type of catastrophic event happening here. New Orleans probably knows better than any of us how quickly your life can be literally wiped out.

I live in Ohio. We had a bad ice storm a couple of years ago that shut the electricity down for hundreds of thousands. We fell apart here. People had no heat, their food went bad, and we had a small glimpse of having our comforts that we take for granted, taken away.
It taught me a lesson and I started canning. It's amazing the things I have learned. Who knew you could can meat? I also tripled the size of my garden and used my veggies to stock pile jar after jar. It is an empowering thing to know that if something happened like that event or worse, we could survive a long time on what we have. We have gallons of water saved and propane.
We are fragile, but we also have the ability to prepare ourselves to survive as best we can.
However, right now, I see that mass of humanity, cars, boats, debris being swept away at what they say is hundreds of miles an hour, and know that preparation is a good thing, but sometimes useless.
God be with them....