Like the flood in Pakistan,  the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, and all natural disasters–the numbers are incomprehensible.  The images are surreal–water moving entire houses and tankers across farmlands like bath toys.  8.9 on the Richter scale, 10,000 expected dead in the Miyagi Prefecture (like a state) alone.   A smoke plume from a factory fire in the city of Sendai, that’s visible from space.  A heated and possibly deformed core of the #3 nuclear reactor at the Fukushima nuclear reactor.   Local toddlers being scanned for radiation exposure .
Here are some immediate things you can do to help and then some sites to learn more about happenings the world over, or as I like to think of it–the other rooms in our house.  So really, it just flooded and killed over 10,000 people in the dining room.

Digital donations

The mGive Foundation supports mobile giving campaigns where non-profits receive 100 percent pass-through of funds raised. You can also print out tax receipts of your donations.

Convoy of Hope, text TSUNAMI to 50555 to donate $10.
American Red Cross Relief, text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10.
GlobalGiving, text JAPAN to 50555 to donate $10.
The $10 one-time donation will appear on your next mobile bill.  All donations are tax deductible, message and data rates may apply.

Other txt based giving:
Text “japan” or “quake” to 80888 to donate $10 to the Salvation Army
Text “4japan” to 20222 to send a $10 donation to World Vision

Doctors Without Borders has sent response teams into the hardest hit areas already.
The Los Angeles-based International Medical Corps has deployed an emergency response team as well.
Mercy Corps, based in Portland, Oregon, is working with Japanese partner Peace Winds to set up balloon shelters for up to 600 people along with water, food, and blankets.

Finding people

Voice of Russia, the Russian government-run international radio station, will air a special program to convey messages from overseas residents facing difficulty contacting families and friends in Japan.  The station will accept any messages in Japanese, English and Russian on a 24-hour telephone hotline and will deliver them in its Japanese-language program and on its website.  The phone number for the services is 7-495-9506484. The broadcaster is also accepting messages through e-mail at letters@ruvr.ru.

Google has an app that helps people give information on Japanese people and ask about people they think are missing.

Learn more

The Japan Times, the biggest English newspaper in Japan is tweeting and listing updates as fast as they come in.
The Mercy Corps have a current video from the city of Natori, in the Miyagi Prefecture.

Two organizations where you can stay up to date with factual, transparent information on events that effect populations at risk around the world.  InterAction and The Open Society Foundation.