"Till drowsy eyelids seem to seeThe tragic and frightening events unfolding in Japan will be familiar to you all, so I won't recount them here, except to urge you to view this piece by ABC News showing in stark detail the extent of the devastation so far.
A-flower 'neath her golden htee
The Shwe-Dagon flare easterly
From Burmah to Kamakura"
What I do want to tell you is that Japan has asked for outside help, and for a country as proud as that to do so (they were forced to accept foreign assistance after the Kobe earthquake in 1995 which virtually destroyed that city and killed 6,500 people), they must be in severe need right now - faced as they are by earthquake, tsunami, nuclear emergency and an erupting volcano.
I have a vested interest - I love the country; I have family and friends who live there (they're all okay if scared); and I have been to Japan three times out of the last four years - and am meant to be going again in three weeks' time.
But even if you're not directly affected in any way, please consider donating whatever you can using the Red Cross button below. The Red Cross is the agency recommended by the Japanese Embassy in the UK.
The picture at the top is of the Daibutsu at KÅtoku-in temple, Kamakura, immortalised by "The Buddha at Kamakura" by Rudyard Kipling (extract above), which I visited in 2008.
The Great Buddha wasn't built to stand in the open air, but the last building to house the statue was completely washed away in a tsunami over five hundred years earlier, in 1498.
Thankfully, the Buddha itself was somehow left undamaged by the merciless waves.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the people of Japan.
CLICK TO DONATE
Mashable explains 7 Ways to Help if you're not in the UK.
If you are looking for people missing after the earthquake/tsunami, or have information about missing people, Google has set up a Japan Person Finder Service.
If those people are British Nationals, please also ring the UK Foreign Office hotline number 020 7008 0000.
Google has also set up a Earthquake/Tsunami Crisis Response Page with useful information, links and phone numbers for all those affected.
EDITED TO ADD: If you'd like to add a "donate" button to your own site, please feel free to copy and paste the code below:
<a href="http://www.redcross.org.uk/japantsunami" title="Donate to the Red Cross for Japan Tsunami Relief"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5092/5525340817_ebe2977dd5_o.gif" alt="Donate to the Red Cross for Japan Tsunami Relief" height="75" width="300" /></a>
Comments
It must be a relief to you to know that your family are well and safe, and I hope they stay that way. It is all extremely worrying for anyone with any connections in that part of the world.