Tsunami in Japan

Last school year, our leadership group did a pennies drive for Japan disaster relief.  We also watched a webinar with a prominent scientist on the Discovery Education Network. The students were able to write in questions and listen to him discuss how a Tsunami happens and its effects on the island nation.  The questions ranged from how much water was displaced to how fast it traveled to what could be the effects on the western seaboard of the United States.  Living in the Northwest and cradled between 5 active volcanoes and an offshore subduction zone, the students are keenly aware of the dangers from earthquakes, pyroclastic floes and tsunamis.  They have an interesting take on things here...it isn't if it will happen...it is when it will happen.  Earthquake drills are serious business here - no student takes them for granted.  As for Japan, the most prepared nation for earthquakes and tsunamis? They were prepared more that we could ever hope to be.  That is why hundreds of thousands didn't die in that highly populated nation.  Middle school students are a unique bunch.  They still care. They care about their families, their friends, and are at the time in their lives where they can begin to feel what it is like to be in someone's shoes. That moment of discovering compassion is priceless.  We try as teachers to cultivate that care for humanity and help it grow. They never cease to amaze me.