Mother Nature's destructive side

It's hard to know what to say when natural disasters occur. What do you think when you see the devastation in Japan? In New Zealand? In Haiti? In New Orleans? It is such a helpless feeling to watch the awesome, destructive power of nature. The Japan death toll is now estimated at 10,000. Many of the missing will never be found. The destruction so widespread and pervasive that it will take decades to repair, and even then will never again be the same -- the terrain and infrastructure forever changed.

If you haven't seen this video, it will shock you. The videographer captures the scene of water rushing down the street, sweeping away -- first of all -- vehicles and small objects in its path, and then the current growing stronger and deeper, eventually moving buildings from their foundations. http://gizmodo.com/#!5781566/this-is-the-scariest-first+person-video-of-the-japan-tsunami-yet

More than 1.4 million without water since the earthquake struck. More than 1.9 million without electricity. Entire towns and villages wiped out of existence. And now the worries of a nuclear meltdown, eerily reminiscent of the Chernobyl power plant meltdown of April 26, 1986 -- almost 25 years ago. Global Post suggests that you make a monetary contribution to a reputable aid group to help the Japanese people recover from this tragedy. Check out that story at this link: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/japan/110311/japan-tsunami-donations-aid.

One of my goals as a weekly journalist years ago was to photograph two things up close: a bald eagle and a tornado. I never got to do either one, although I have on occasion seen bald eagles in this area, and have photographed some ugly storm clouds, but no true tornadoes. But I remember coming home from Mitchell to Canistota on the night of May 30, 1998 -- the night that an F4 tornado swept through Spencer and killed six residents, leaving the town in shambles.

What was eerie was that I passed just south of Spencer on Hwy. 38 within an hour or two of the tornado that night. I remember watching the tornado warnings on television and their showing a tornado moving in the direction of Canistota, where I lived at that time. The kids and I hunkered down in the cellar of the house I was renting at that time. We were lucky that night. Spencer's residents were not.

I can't help but remember that event every time I drive past Spencer on Hwy. 38 and see much of the town was rebuilt a bit closer to Hwy. 38 than it was before. It continues to work to recover, but a very small town sustaining such a huge loss can never fully recover when homes, businesses and lives are destroyed. But Spencer's residents are resilient. They have a true sense of what the Japanese people are going through. We can throw up our hands and say "Where do we start?" or we can ask "What can I do to help?"