Quakebook Article Summary

Quakebook

Borrowing heavily from the Atlantic/Tech, article called “International Sorrow Finds an Outlet Online”, I will summarize what I found there. Quakebook is a project started by a blogger who calls himself “Our Man in Akibo”. The 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck just off the east coast of Japan, on March 11 at 2:46PM. This quake triggered a massive tsunami almost 40 meters high and washed inland almost 10 kilometers. Almost 125,000 buildings were destroyed, 13,596 people were killed and thousands remain missing.

Hours after the initial quake subsided, Our Man went outside his home in Akibo, part of Japan’s Chiba Prefecture. This blogger wrote about the uncertainty of the quakes aftermath on his personal blog and tells  the torment of whether to wake up his wife and children as each aftershock hit. Then he had an idea, an epiphany. He realized he could ask for stories from the people who are suffering like him, people directly impacted by what was  happening in Japan. He went on twitter and got over 70 submissions the first day.

From the beginning Twitter supplied everything he needed, from stories to editors, translators and designers. A community of volunteers sprung up with hash tags #quakebook. The title of the book is 2:46-Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake.

2:46-Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake is now on sale at Amazon for $9.99 with one hundred percent of the proceeds going directly to the Japanese Red Cross Society. They are also going to release an eBook in Japanese and German. This book was written in four weeks, a miraculous accomplishment. It has contributions by Yoko Ono, William Gibson, Barry Eisler, and Jake Adelstein.

This book sounds like a powerful testimony of people who have suffered because of the quake. People who for one reason or another have links to Japan and found it therapeutic to write about their experiences when the quake hit. If you want the book but don’t have an eReader Amazon will download one free to read this book, and not get one dollar for itself. All the money goes to the Japanese people who need it.

A review of the quakebook can be found at www.nanikore.net/2011/04/25/quakebook-a-review/. It says “The brief nature of many accounts actually increases the impact, there’s no time for dwelling, just the basic emotional facts behind an event which took over 20,000 people away in just a few hours, and left a nation digging its heel’s in for years to come.”

Do you think you will get this book? How did the earthquake in Japan affect you? What do you think about the tragedy of the nuclear plant and the pollution of the ocean?

Related Articles

• Quakebook / 2:46 (matthewbenson.wordpress.com)
• Twitter-sourced “#quakebook” Created in One Week for Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami Relief (katiesjapanfiles.wordpress.com)
• #2:46 Aftershocks: Stories From The Japan Earthquake Published. Give a little, learn a lot, help some people. (japansubculture.com)
• Quakebook: Twitter-Sourced Anthology for and by Japan (brainpickings.org)
• Tweet inspired ‘Quakebook’ to help Japan relief (businessinsider.com)