On the afternoon of 11the March 2011, a massive 8.9M undersea earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Honshu, triggering a massive tsunami that leveled Sendai and neighboring cities and towns, and rattled the rest of the island-nation as far away as its capital city of Tokyo.
Over three thousand lives have been claimed so far, and the numbers will continue to climb as over ten thousand Japanese citizens are still unaccounted for. There is also the looming threat of nuclear disaster as workers struggle to prevent complete meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
If you want to contact friends and loved ones, or help the disaster relief effort, there are a number of ways to reach out to the brave and battered citizens of Japan.
Keep Track of People
Use the Twitter hashtag #tokyoearthquake to contact friends in Tokyo — internet services are still up in the capital city even if mobile phone services are spotty.
Use the Twitter hashtag #prayforjapan to learn more about relief efforts and find ways to contribute to fund-raising campaigns.
Use the Google Person Finder to find information on or share information about missing persons.
Track down your favorite animation and gaming staff, manga-ka and seiyuu.
Keep tabs on your favorite pop stars, band members, actors, and entertainers.
How to Help
Donate to the Nippon Foundation.
Donate to SHOW YOUR HEART; supported by Gackt and many Japanese pop and sports stars.
Donate to the Japanese Red Cross via Google Crisis Response.
Donate to the charity of your choice via Paypal.
Come to Inori: Ongaku Society Gives Back — a benefit concert organized by Ongaku Society to aid the Japanese Red Cross Society. The event will be help on 2 April 2011 at Androsia, 57B Timog Avenue (beside The Imperial Palace Hotel), Quezon City.
The University of the Philippines Center for International Studies is holding a fundraiser called “A Drink for Japan — Race to P50K” on 25 March 2011 at 5:30pm at the UPCIS building (next to Palma Hall Annex). Donations will be forwarded to the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Tokyo Catholic International Center — which is supporting Filipino evacuees in Tokyo.
Donate via SMS to the Japan Red Cross through the Philippine National Red Cross: text RED (e.g. RED 25) to 4483 for SMART subscribers and 2899 for Globe subscribers. Denominations of PHP 10, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500, 1000 are currently accepted.
To donate directly to the Japan Red Cross Society, you can also deposit donations in Japanese Yen to the following account.
Name of Bank: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking
Corporation Name of Branch: Ginza
Account No.: 8047670 (Ordinary Account)
SWIFT Code: SMBC JP JT
Payee Name: The Japanese Red Cross Society
Payee Address: 1-1-3 Shiba-Daimon Minato-ku, Tokyo JAPAN
The Manila branch of SMBC is located at the 20th Floor of Rufino Tower, Ayala Avenue corner Rufino Street, Makati City.
JPOP Manila 
The new access code for the Red Cross (for Smart) is 4143
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SMART says 4143, while the Philippine National Red Cross says 4483 — getting confused here
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