The Disaster in Japan, as seen from Hong Kong

When an earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, and was then followed by a deadly tsunami, I received a few comments and posts to my Facebook account from friends and family, checking to make sure I was alright. Of course, miles away here in Hong Kong, we didn't feel a thing from the natural disasters, though I read that the seawater levels did rise a bit. But really, if not for the Internet and television, we'd never even have known of the event.

Since then, life in Hong Kong has carried on as normal, except for a few things. The first worries about greater effects from the disaster began as the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant worsened. Many people in Hong Kong began to worry about the safety of all the food imported here from Japan, especially the powdered baby formula. People waited in long lines to buy the remaining product to feed their babies, even when the sellers increased the price threefold. (And they do sell other types of formula here, by the way.)

Quite soon after the nuclear power plant began to have problems, people were also worried about receiving high doses of radiation from rainfall. The media and government were quick to declare that impossible, however, and have continued to report on radiation levels in the city ever since. They have been slighly higher as of late, but are still within very normal levels. I heard on the news just the other day that people arriving in Hong Kong from Japan may now be subject to radiation screening as well.

The biggest personal impact I have felt from the events in Japan is the cancellation of my Easter holiday trip to Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. My friends and I planned to spend our 10-day spring break there at the end of April, hoping to get a glimpse of the famous cherry blossoms and all the beautiful cultural sites. Of course, now there are government warnings against travel to Japan, which also make our travel insurance invalid. So, we must find a new destination for our vacation time, and hope that Japan will be able to contain the nuclear disaster so that its people may return to their homes and tourists will someday be able to visit again.