Nowadays news on natural disasters is pretty much an everyday occurrence. You'll hear about floods, earthquake, storms etc so often that the impact is not so profound. Of course you'll feel sorry for the life/things that people lost, you may even feel sad and scared but at the end of the day you'll just move on with your everyday life.
The news on the massive earthquake in North Japan had a different impact on me. When I found out on yahoo about the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and following tsunami my heart literally stopped. My first thought automatically when to Cath, so I send an email checking if she's alright.
Reports after reports came, one worst after the other but still no response from Cath. Naturally, I was worried. SMS Jessie and Lan immediately and immediately tried other points of communication i.e. sms/office phones and IM. Semua takde reply. At that point I admit Jessie and I was feeling a bit panicky but of course we told each other to think positive. Later made contact with Sarah promising to update each other for news. Finally at 11.30pm finally got the news from Sarah who managed to get hold of Cath on the phone. At that time I felt like a huge burden was carried off my shoulders, only then did all of us managed to relax and go to sleep.
It's crazy I guess, at times like that my overactive imagination played all sorts of crazy scenario. At one point I told myself I should just stop because I was just driving myself nuts. Even everyone at home was worried. My sis was helping me find Cath's home number and my mum and dad was asking every few hours if I've heard any new news from Japan.
Trust me the reaction that we had was not melodramatic in any sense. Just imagining the possibility of losing one of my best friend really scare the shit out of me. This is not any ordinary person on the street, this is the person who've I've shared 15 years worth of memories (good and bad). Hey, this is my maid of honour ok!! She drives me nuts sometimes but I can't imagine a world without her around.
I feel sad that my friend had to endure the 20km- 7 hours walk home alone from her workplace to her home, can't imagine how terrified she would be at the time. Anyway I'm so glad that Cath, Matt, Aunt Jen and Uncle Toshi are safe and that their house escaped any major damage. There's still some after aftershocks going on, so let's continue to pray that everyone will stay safe *insyallah*
In the mean time, I seriously thank Allah for protecting Cath and her family from harm *alhamdullilah* So people appreciate the things you have in your life because it can be taken away at any time. For those who've been complaining about trivial stuff, you should be ashamed of yourself. Till then, stay positive and have a great week ahead everyone :)
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