The World At Large

It's been a tough start for the world in 2011 and leading in to the year
Australia's had floods and fires.
Christchurch, New Zealand had a fairly nasty earthquake that took lives
The latest is the illustration above.
The final figures are not in and won't be for quite some time.
Even now, the gestimate of 10,000 people lost from the earthquake that measured 8.9 that triggered the massive tsunami that landed on Japanese shores early on friday 10th March may be a conservative figure.
The city of Sendai has pretty much been ripped from Japanese life and other areas in that north-eastern corner of the elongated nation.
It has a population of over 127 million. More than double the UK.
It is bigger than Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand and the U.K. all put together.
I always thought it to be a little bigger than the UK. How wrong was i?- much.

My thoughts go to the people of Japan at this time and, likewise, to those who have family and friends over there - whether they be working or holidaying.