Panda is a friend of mine. I will e-mail her today, but I don't think she is in any danger, as she lives near me.
Right now the situation in the sticken area is in the hands of the emergency teams and the military forces. While we in the Tokyo area worry about trains, rolling blackouts, lack of grocery items, and aftershocks; we are not in immediate danger. Maybe after they have completed search and rescue, accounted for most of the missing, decided how to house the survivors; we might talk about some effort we could make to show the people of northern Japan that we care! Until that time, a donation to the Red Cross (or any other reliable charity) is the most appropriate thing you can do.