From npr.org

Japan's earthquake was terrible, the tsunami was really terrible, but the impending nuclear disaster is much worse. As my readers know, I went to Japan nearly 2 years ago. It was my first trip to Asia and I was struck by the people. Even in the chaos of the subway, there was an order. Everyone always seemed perfect. It was as if even if they're lives sucked, they were still going to put themselves together and look perfect. That's why I felt worried when it seemed like Japanese officials were understating the risk at the nuclear plants, and that when they started to ramp up the rhetoric to say that there actually was a high risk, it seems pretty scary.

On the NY Times, I found interesting features that explain exactly what's happening in with the nuclear reactors and puts it in context with similar past nuclear disasters.

So what now? The Japanese have pulled through so much that I'm sure they'll pull through this too, but in the meantime, I started to think about donations. Unfortunately, after the Haiti debacle, this has kind of left a bad taste in my mouth, so I'm looking out for different ways of helping. NPR has a link to appropriate ways to help. From experience, I'd guess that Japan is more organized than Haiti...but I do wish it didn't feel like I'm putting my money into a black box and hoping that it goes where it needs to.

TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images