Friday, March 11, 2011

Igarashi Optimistic About Family's Safety Despite Lack of Communication

On Friday morning, most of us woke up to see that Japan had been devastated by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake, followed by a tsunami.

The pictures and video that rolled in throughout the course of the day left many of us amazed and horrified.

Mets relief pitcher, Ryota Igarashi, found out about the earthquake and tsunami around 2 a.m. While his wife and daughters are with him here in the United States, the rest of his family is in Japan, 200 miles away from the earthquakes epicenter.

According to Marty Noble, despite not having been able to make contact with his family by midday, Igarashi believes his family is okay because of their distance from the epicenter.

"All the lines are shut down. You cannot get through, so there's no way to get in touch directly with family," Igarashi said, "but the likelihood they are okay is very high based on where they live. There were tremors there, up to about 5.0 on the Richter scale."

Fans can sometimes forget that there are bigger things out there than baseball. Today was just a reminder of how small a baseball game is in the grand scheme of things. 

To donate to the Red Cross for disaster relief, you may text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

The Salvation Army is also collecting $10 donations. Text the words "Quake" or "Japan" to 80888. Donations can also be made by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY.

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