The earthquake that struck Japan on March 11, 2011 has been devastating for the country on the whole, and as it tries to pick up the pieces, companies like Microsoft are assessing the damage done to their offices as well as trying to account for the whereabouts of their Japanese employees.

In reaction to the earthquake, Microsoft has activated its Disaster Response team and provided a disaster response page for people to monitor.  Microsoft  had this to say about the events following the disaster:

On March 11, 2011 at 14.46 (local time), a magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck 81 miles (130km) east of Sendai, the capital of Miyagi prefecture (Japan), followed by a 13 foot tsunami. Microsoft has activated its disaster response protocol to monitor the situation in Japan and other areas on tsunami warning alert, and offer support as appropriate. We are taking a number of steps, including ensuring the safety of our employees and their families and proactively offering customers, partners and local response agencies technical support to help ensure business continuity.

[Cross-posted at Winextra]