Scenes of devastation from early Friday morning in Japan.

Even as a country well-acquainted with earthquakes, Japan has been ravaged by a huge earthquake that resulted in hundreds of lives lost and tsunami warnings issued across the Pacific coast. The earthquake hit a staggering 8.9 on the Richter scale, which is the most severe reading that an earthquake has registered in Japan’s recorded history. Hours later, even, aftershocks from the initial quake reached readings of 7.1. As a result, gigantic tsunami waves swept across towns and rice fields, laying waste to hundreds of acres of land. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated, although nearly as many have been stranded in their various cities due to rail and road outages across the entire country. Thankfully, as a country well-accustomed to earthquakes, Japan was extremely well-prepared to handle such devastation due to their rigorous building codes and extensive sea walls. Large wave warnings have been issued to cities up and down the California coast, as large waves have already hit Hawaii and should hit our shores soon. Our hearts go out to all those affected, and hopefully the rebuilding can begin shortly.