The earthquake and tsunami near Sendai, Japan have resulted in 3,370 confirmed deaths and over 6,700 missing. No doubt more bad news will be coming over the next few days as Japan completes search & rescue efforts.

Unfortunately, our recent memory includes similar disasters in Haiti last year and one off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in 2004. In each disaster resulted in over 200,000 deaths. We probably won’t know the extent of the damage and loss of life in Japan for months.

Our thoughts are with the people of Japan. We hope that the situation improves in the near future and that those with family members missing locate their loved ones unharmed. It is striking that four of the most intense earthquakes in the last two decades have occurred since 2004.