8.8 Earthquake in Japan – My experience (long and unedited. Will edit in the next day or so)

On Friday the 11 around 2:30 I went to the post office to send money home. At 2:45 is when the quake hit Miyagi Prefecture. I was in Ibaraki Prefecture at the time. My distance from the epicenter of the Earthquake was 323 km (200 miles). Some time after that those of us in the post office started to feel the tremor.

At the time I was sitting at a table filling out some international money orders. There was an elderly (maybe 50′s or 60′s) sitting next time. The woman said “Is this a quake?” I turned to hear, “Yeah. it is.” She then turned to her husband saying “If he said so, guess it’s true.” I laughed a little. At this point it was barely shaking.

Now the thing you have to understand about quakes is that they happen fairly often in Japan. 1′s, 2′s , 3′s , even 4′s aren’t much of a big deal. They start. You shake. It is over very quickly. Maybe 20 seconds tops. You become very used to the earthquakes over here. Desensitized to the earthquakes. Literally when I turned to the old lady my attitude was like “Yup. Earthquake. No biggie.”

But then the earthquake started to feel wrong. Now you might say to yourself “Earthquakes shaking and what not. Of course that is going to feel wrong!” But that isn’t what I mean. It didn’t feel like the earthquake that we are accustomed to. It started to shake a lot more. It started to go on longer than the “normal” earthquakes. It started to get very bad.

I was still seated in my chair. But then I started to get a sense of unease, this earthquake feeling “wrong.” I look around me and no one is doing anything. Why is no one doing anything? I felt a little crazy but I stood up and I got close to the table and prepared to get under as soon as possible. At this point the earthquake was around about a 3 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale. This is not the Richter scale. For more information please read this. Then the earthquake started to grow in intensity of shaking. It was at this point that I was the only one in the post office that got under the table. It might have been around a 4 or so. The earthquake wasn’t stopping and some people started to follow my lead. The older couple next to me got under the table and a woman sitting not to far also said “I think I’ll join you guys.” This happened for maybe 10 more seconds and then the shaking got to probably around an “lower 5.” It was at this point that everyone in the post office started to panic. Everyone tried to get under and the staff started to direct people to get under the tables. The woman who was sitting down and rushed under the table grabbed my hand and started repeating “This is scary.” Then it started to shake even strong, “upper 5″ territory. This is when the power went out. Once we all heard that powering off sound, like the one you hear in movies, we knew something was up. The lady grabbed my other hand and I kept trying to tell her it was okay. She started talking about her dog back at her house and wondering if it was okay. The earthquake started to die down and I started to say out loud “Its dying down.” to try and reassure the woman clutching my hands. After the shaking stopped she apologized for grabbing my hands and reassured her “No no. Its okay.” With the power down the post office couldn’t really do anything. Before leaving I posted my money order and unfortunately wasn’t able to insure it. I’m praying that doesn’t get lost. Then I left and headed back to school.

The traffic lights were out due to the power shortage. This was going to be horrible. Japanese drivers are already pretty bad. I was completely unprepared for their driving now. Especially people out in the country. I have seen some crazy things in my days. But there was an intersection that I had to go through. I already knew what I needed to do. At an intersection without a light, you are supposed to stop and whoever was stopped first proceeds through the intersection. I stopped at the light and waited till it was all clear. Everyone who was on the road at that time was literally blazing through the intersection at full speed. No slow down. No stopping. Even though I was at the intersection first, I stopped and I waited till there were no cars coming. This was but a taste of what I would see on the roads later.

The post office is about a 1 minute drive from my school. When I got to school I saw students were already getting ready to go home. 1st graders were all excited and the 3rd grade boys were also saying how fun the earthquake was. They asked me if I had “felt the quake” since apparently being away from school meant that there was no way I could have felt that. Some 3rd grade girls were a little shaken up and some started to cry. I said what I could about everything being okay and them being safe. But they were pretty affected by the quake. I asked one of the third grade teachers about the experience and the 3rd floor where the 3rd and 4th graders really shook. The higher you are the more the building will shake. The students went home and I went up to the teacher’s room.

The power was out in school as well. No internet. No nothing. Teachers tried to see if was a breaker but I mentioned the traffic lights and post office being out. This was definitely an area wide black out. The building was still shaking a little and it was decided everyone should get out of the building. At around 3:17 a level 4 aftershock occurred. Everyone was outside at this point. This aftershock also lasted longer than usual. Something was definitely up. Around 3:30 we went back into the school and had a meeting. The meeting was to decide the school’s course of action. The staff was split up into areas and we were to check the school for any signs of damage, ie broken windows etc. After that we met up in the teacher’s room again to check in any signs of damage. No major damage to the school. Then it was decided teachers should go home and check on their families etc.

At this point it was asked what I would do. I knew the trains probably weren’t going to be running but I had to at least try. I tried using my phone. I wasn’t getting any emails, I wasn’t able to send any emails, I wasn’t able to call anyone, but I was able to use the internet. Good thing I recharged my phone the night before. I figured I would be using it a lot in the coming days. I decided to try and go anyway.

On my way there I bumped into Cedric on the road. I talked with him for about an hour about this and that. It was very nice. But it was starting to get cold and around 5:30 I went back on my way. My phone wasn’t work and neither were a lot of lights. I was sure to stop at every single light and sure enough. No one else was stopping. I really thought I was going to see an accident. I also started to get so angry that I was thinking about beeping my horn when people tried to cut through the intersection. But I just waited till I knew it was safe and kept on going. I’m sure the people behind me thought I was crazy. But not red/green light doesn’t mean “Go.” It means stop. The major highway that I have to drive on everyday that heads into Tokyo was absolutely packed. It took quite a while to get back to the train station. Again some areas had power and some areas did not. I thought about stopping off at a Seven Eleven to grab a snack and also try using a payphone to call Kana’s parents. Even though the cellphones weren’t working I figured the landlines would be. But I decided to grin and bear it and get to the station first.

When I got to the station, the shutters were down and there were signs saying the trains have been stopped. I spoke very briefly to a train guy and then an aftershock happened. The staff inside the station told everyone to get out and go to the rotary. I went out and tried using the pay phone again. I then sat around trying to use my cellphone. It was at this time I noticed I had gotten a glut of emails. One from Kana, two from Kana’s mother, and one from Kevin. I replied to all of them but I didn’t know if they would receive them. Three recent high school graduates (I think) had a couple bags of snacks and were going up to the station. I mentioned to them that the trains weren’t running but they went up anyway. When they came down I overheard a couple words like “Let’s go over for the time being. We don’t have anything better to do.” They looked at the map of town and then went on their way. I didn’t know what they were talking about. I went up one more time and read the signs very carefully. One of the signs said there was a disaster relief area at the local school’s gymnasium.

Immediately my thoughts reeled to other times I’ve seen those types of words. Those images of people huddled together in crowded gyms. People who no longer had homes. For the time being I too didn’t have a home. I could have spent the night at several places actually. My friend Kazuo’s place, my friend Brendon’s, and my friend from work Mr. Kotake. But I decided to at least go over and see what was going on. The least I could do was take a break. I was tired of standing around and driving on the roads. I wanted to sit down and maybe have something to drink.

There was about a 3 minute walk from the Minami Kurihashi Station to Minami Kurihashi Elementary School. Signs at the school said to go to the gymnasium. I walked around to the gym and went inside. It was dark as there was no power. Funny how a 3 minute walk east had power and everything west of that did not. But I did see some candles and I did see some kerosene stoves for warmth. I sat down at a stove that didn’t have anyone sitting down yet. There were people sitting around the gym walls. Not sure why no one was crowded around the stoves.
Now the pictures I took didn’t come out very well. But I need to post them anyway.

Here is the stove I sat at and those three people in the background were the high school grads and they are sitting around a candle.

Here are some people, mostly workers that couldn’t get home on account of the train, lined up against the wall.

It started to get darker and darker. People started to get closer to the stoves. This was taken at the stove I was sitting at. Still no power.

This was taken at a different room in the gymnasium. In the meting room. Mostly families were in here. Only candles and no stoves. After a while it was starting to get cold and people moved into the gymnasium proper.

This was taken on the far side of the gym. I wanted to try and get the main area everyone was in with all the stoves and candles. However, at this point they got a generator going and there was some light in the hallway.

Jumping back in time little, when I first got to gym I waited a little in the door area. I wasn’t sure if it was okay that I could go in. People were busy with getting stuff ready and no one was asking me anything. Finally I asked if it was okay to come in and rest for a little while. The staff said of course and I went in and sat down at a stove that didn’t have anyone around it. A younger Japanese guy came over and sat down at the stove and started up a conversation. We talked and then he went over and helped with some cardboard boxes. I felt like I should help as well, I was taking them up on their hospitality after all. We helped pass out some foam mats for people to sit on. Essentially it was an insulation layer to get off the cold wood gym floor. Grabbed a mat for myself and went back over to the stove. At this point a couple more Japanese men came over to the stove. They all worked at the same company. One of the guys was watching TV on his cellphone. We had some reports of what was going on in other parts of the country. Mostly about the situations with the trains.

At 6:30 I was treated to my first phone call from Kana. I wasn’t getting any email in a while and it was a relief to hear my phone vibrate. We checked up on each other and talked about getting home. I told her that I was stuff where I was in Minami Kurihashi due to the trains being down. Not sure when I would get home tomorrow. Kana said she was stuck in the office and didn’t know how she would get home. I told Kana I was worried about the plates falling out of the cupboards. Kana said she was worried about the wine and other bottles of alcohol we have placed on a high shelf. I then started to worry more about the alcohol spilling out its contents onto the floor creating a sticky glassy mess that needed to be cleaned up when I got home.

It was around this time that someone mentioned they had water to drink if anyone needs it. I was thirsty and went over to get some water. I was then told that the water’s expiration date was on the 10th of March. Can you imagine that? The staff jokingly said that if we didn’t care about it we could have some water. I said I didn’t care, water doesn’t go bad right? He handed me a 1.5 liter bottle of water. I was really surprised I thought it would be water in cups and stuff. Or like a small 500ml bottle of water. I took the water and started drinking. The TV cellphone guy warned me that I would start having to pee. But in this type of situation it is more important to stay hydrated than worry about a little pee.

At 6:53 my company called me. The company was making the rounds with all the teachers checking in on them. I mentioned that I was “Okay. Now… don’t get upset okay?” “Okay.” “I’m stuck in a gym over night because of the trains.” To her credit she didn’t get upset. I assured her I was okay and that she probably needed to call lots of other teachers. Said our goodbyes and hung up.

At 6:59 I got word from Brendon. He told me that he picked up another teacher in his area and they were hanging out at his place. Shimotsuma in Ibaraki didn’t have power, gas, or running water. I told him where I was and that I was safe. I told him the company is trying to get in contact with everyone. He said okay. He told me that if I wanted to come over, I was more than welcome. I declined the offer because at least at the gym I had water and heat. Although I’m sure it would have been fun staying up all night hanging out.

Here is my trusty bottle of water’s expiration date.

After getting off the phone with Brendon I found out that they had passed out all the blankets. Uh oh. I was in trouble. But then the staff came over with a little bag. He boasted “This was developed by NASA.” trying to play on the fact that I was a foreigner. Then he handed me something I knew all too well. Space Blanket. This is an emergency blanket that was designed by NASA. It is a thin film of plastic that then has a coating of metal sprayed onto it. What this does is create a very thin, very light blanket that reflects heat back to the heat source. If I were to wrap my body in this blanket, my body heat would be able to keep me warm. I was very excited. I had actually been meaning to get a couple of these for camping etc. Not as a complete replacement for a sleeping bag or anything, but it is definitely useful for emergency situations and as an insulation layer in a sleeping bag.

Here I am all smiles wrapped up in my Space Blanket.

The guy that handed me the bag was like “You know what this is?” I started to explain it to him and all the people I was sitting with were a little impressed. Guess all my outdoor and survival knowledge is kind of helpful in some situations huh? He told me that it was just temporary till more blankets came. But that thin little blanket was warm. I was very surprised. The product name for this particular bag was a “Survival Blanket.”

Around 8:00 I started to get hungry. I was waiting for a while for people to come around and mention food but no one ever came. I decided that I would need to take some initiative and ask some questions. I went up to the staff member that had given me the Space Blanket and asked him about possible food rations. He mentioned that they had “watery rice porridge but they needed hot water for it. Right now we are just waiting for the hot water to come.” I turned to walk away but my brain started to question what he said to me. That doesn’t make any sense. Most survivor kits (especially survivor food) basically assume that you don’t have any kind of way to produce heat. They also assume that you at least have water. As long as you add water to whatever kit you have and wait long enough the food will become rehydrated and edible. I turned back around and asked “May I see the rice packaging?” He showed me the box and I pulled out a package. I had seen this package before. Where? In an outdoor store. I have actually purchased this rice before. And just as I suspected it was rice that you didn’t need hot water for. I told then explained the situation to him. You don’t need hot water to “prepare” this rice. He started to argue with me but I said “Look here on the back.” Sure enough it says add hot water and wait 15 minutes (with colder water wait 60 minutes.) The guy had a “I’ll be darned” kind of moment and said “You sure know a lot about this kind of stuff.” I told him that mountains and outdoor stuff is a hobby. I took a thing of rice and brought it back. I ripped open the package and poured in some cold water. At this point the younger Japanese guy that I had started talking too was as hungry as I was and decided to copy me. The two other older Japanese men reeled with disgust saying “There is no way I would eat cold rice.” Beggars can’t be choosers. Especially in a disaster situation. But they waited for hot water anyway.

Dinner

Dinner was good old minute rice. Minute rice is actually boiled and then dehydrated. Add water and the rice soaks up the water. Hotter water makes this process faster though. Minute rice is very hard to find in Japan. I’ve only seen it sold as “survival food.” Which is a shame cause minute rice is actually something I miss from America. Very useful when camping.

At 8:22 I got another call from Kana. When I answered the phone disconnected. I tried calling her back but just as always I couldn’t connect. For some reason my phone was still not able to send emails or able to make calls. I could get emails and I was receiving calls. I found out later that all of my emails were very late.

I went to my car to get some chapstick. My lips were dry and driving me crazy. Outside it was pitch black. There was still some light pollution off in the distance but it was beautiful. The moon was gorgeous as well. It was a nice refreshing walk and a little change of pace from the gym.

At 8:43 I got another phone call from Kana. She said she decided to go home in the company car. The roads were insane. A forty minute drive magically became a two and a half hour drive back home. Power was out in Western Tokyo in the Tama region. Lights were out and the roads were packed. The phone cut out in the middle of our conversation.

After my phone call ended I went back over and decided that the rice had soaked long enough. I was going to eat this rice anyway. It was still crunchy in the middle but that at least provided some interesting texture. Right around 9 or so they started bringing around kettles of water to place on top of the stoves to make hot water. I was hoping for a little tea but alas, just boiled water. Figures. Just after I had eaten my rice they bring us the materials for making hot water. I was actually thinking of different ways we could boil water. One group took one of the buckets they used to place the candles on and started boiling water in that. I didn’t think that was such a great idea because those buckets are used for cleaning the floors. The insides of those buckets are filthy. Maybe they just placed the bags of rice with water in them. I’m not sure because I didn’t go over to look. But I though if we could just get our hands on like an aluminum can we would be able to boil water. The kettles came just in time. I was literally going to go outside and look for a can someone had thrown away. Just wash it as best as possible and then were off to the races!

9:25 phone call from Kana. She was home. Only one glass broke. The wine and liquor bottles did fall but they miraculously didn’t break. A lot of furniture had moved around but nothing was bad. Gas was still good and so was power. I asked her if the internet was up. It was and I dictated to her a letter to my parents. I thought I should at least let them now I was safe.

After the water boiled they two Japanese guys prepared their rice and the younger guy went back for seconds. I decided I would like some too and got some rice. When I came back the older guy wanted to move to the other side of the gym against the wall. The gym door was open and a breeze was blowing. I wasn’t too keen on moving and just sat where I was. The wind wasn’t bothering me in my space age insulation.

9:47 got a call from a coworker. He was calling everyone he could think of trying to check in on people.

At 9:49 my friend Kazuo called me and started to berate me for not coming to his place. I told him that I had to try and get to the station and that they have heat and water here. He started to understand the situation and then the phone went out. Wasn’t able to get in contact with him again that night.

Came back to eat my rice and my company for the evening decided they would go back to their office and try and do some work. I said good bye and started to eat some more rice and drink some boiled water. Boiled water as a drink is really gross. Well, to be fair I don’t like hot drinks in general so. It got me thing though. I should always carry some kind of instant drink mix and some kind of dry seasoning mix. That would be really helpful in these situations. Foresight is 20/20 right?

Well at this point I was all alone. I decided that I would listen to my ipod and lay down for some rest. Thankfully my companions did leave because they also left me their blankets. I took one and then handed the two remaining blankets to two men that only had space blankets. I wrapped myself in the space blanket and then wrapped myself in the wool blanket. I also took a spare foam bad and rolled it up to make a pillow. At this point there were probably only like 25 or so people left in the gym. Then the crowd of Japanese men on the wall of the gym all got up and left as well. I guess they had talked to the people I was with and decided it would be better to just go back to the office. After they left only around 18 remained. The families that were there had all tucked their kids into bed. They were all sleeping in the blankets they had brought from home. I never found out why they came to the gym. If they lived in the area shouldn’t they be staying in their house? Were they afraid of their homes collapsing? Did they need the heat? Regardless of their reason they had just as much a right to be there as I did. There were about 3 families there. Maybe like 8 or so kids?

After listening to my Ipod for a while I situated my self and went to sleep. Not before taking a picture of my view.

Gym ceiling.

My night asleep was a nightmare. It was a constant struggle to stay asleep. The foam pad wasn’t very comfortable. I wasn’t cold. But the aftershocks just kept happening. It would shake for like 20 seconds and then it would be quiet for a minute. Then it would start shaking again. Then it would be still for a while. Shaking. Still. Shaking. Still. Trembling. Still. The times that it really started to tremble would definitely wake you up. I would look up and watch those lights and see them just shaking. I kept checking and rechecking every time what was above me. Even after being sure there wasn’t anything above me, every time it shook I still looked up. Maybe the roof will collapse? I don’t know. But I also kept my eyes on the ceiling, waiting for that moment I need to run for the door. The aftershocks were only 1s and 2s. There was a 3 though a couple times. But the 1s and 2s were constant. And in the back of my head, every time there was a long pause, “Is it over? Are the aftershocks gone?” it starts shaking again. I wasn’t worried so much about the gym being destroyed, I was worried about the trains. As long as there are still aftershocks they won’t be running the trains. Would I ever be able to get home with these constant aftershocks? How long would I stay in the gym? I figured that by morning if the train doesn’t happen I would go over to Brendon’s for sure.

All of a sudden I wake up to screaming. A 2? 3? year old is fighting with his older brother. The mother does nothing to really stop it. I look up to see what the situation is going on above my head and she looks to me and apologizes. I completely understand and say it isn’t a problem. Even though it is a problem there is no sense in getting angry about it. We are all in dire straits and getting angry over some crying is nothing. I notice there are lights on now. That is good. Electricity is back. Awesome. I notice some shuffling. The staff are kindly refilling my stove with kerosene. I’m too tired to thank them. They are also trying not to wake me.

I wake back up at 4 due to aftershocks. I get up to use the restroom. I ask the guy when the power came back on. He said a little after 1. I had only noticed it around 3. I go back to my space and realize that it is much too uncomfortable. I get a stack of 5 foam mats and put them under my mat. That helped a little. It was starting to get cold. My right upper half of my body felt cold. It just would not get warm. I had to do something to about my space blanket. it had become pretty torn up during the night and wasn’t covering me. I got up and grabbed two space blankets that a family had just left. Two other families disappeared including the family with the fighting brothers. All that was left in the gym was me, 2 guys, 2 kids, and a family of 3. Turned on my ipod and listened for another hour. Started to feel sleepy so I turned off my ipod and went to sleep.

Woke up around 5:30. Was starting to become bright out side. Rolled my head over and went back to sleep.

6am. It is bright out and there is no use in trying to get back to bed. I get up to use the restroom and I drink some water. A member of the staff is going around to everyone with a pad and paper. He comes over to me and asks for my name and address. I figure that every evacuation center does this and eventually I get added to some database so people know of my whereabouts. Then another staff member comes around with breakfast. Then someone came around asking if we were hurt and if we were okay. I figured this person might be a doctor and was there to administer first aid.

Canned Bread

Well crackers really. You know those free bread sticks you get in Italian restaurants that are kind of crunchy. That is what they were. And as an added treat, glucose!

I’m not being sarcastic at all. After more than 18 hours of not eating anything with flavor the glucose was very nice. I just savored letting the sugar melt on my tongue, the sweetness rolling down my throat. It was very refreshing. I even took three cubes and added it to some hot water. Wasn’t quite the flavor I was expecting but hey, better than nothing. Then some more staff came and they brought some rice balls. I ate two rice balls. Rice is so much better with flavoring. Someone brought rice balls last night as well but I can’t remember when. Sometime after my companions left. Don’t know. But I ate regardless.

7am and I got a good morning call from Kana. We talked about the night and I asked her how she was. I asked her to guess what I was eating. “Canned Bread” and she laughed. She informed me of her schedule and I told her I would try and get home as soon as possible but I didn’t know what was going to happen with the trains.

I put my headphones on again and just listened to my ipod. I sort of made a tent out of one of my space blankets. What I did was wrap the edge of the blanket under my right side. I crossed my right leg over my bent left leg so that my right foot was hanging up in the air. Then I pulled the blanket over my head and held it with my left hand. I had created a kind of structure that was reflecting the heat from the stove and holding inside my makeshift tent. I get a little bored so I start cleaning up the gym. A lot of people had just left their trash etc. where it was and went home. It was at this point I found out I was mistaken. Of the three families that went home only one went home. The mother of the crying brothers and her friend’s family moved into the smaller family room where they were before. I guess they moved because their kids were being too loud and woke everyone up.

9am I am given stupendous news. The train is scheduled to start running again. I get up and start cleaning up my area. The two other guys that were with me also start cleaning up. I’m out the door and I’m on my way to the station to go home.

This is not the train that I rode home but it was still a sight for sore eyes.

The train finally came at 10:30. Got on and sat down. The train become continually packed. I was sitting in the courtesy seating so I got up when some elderly folks got on the train. I was standing for a good hour and the train was getting fuller and more packed with every stop. Right before the last stop I was a little crushed.

Got off the train and then went to get on the next train. The next train I was supposed to ride was delayed. There was a sea of people waiting to get in through the gates. I thought I would wait and just grin and bear it, but I decided to ride the subway which I knew was running. If I rode the subway to another station I could hop onto another train and get home. So I rode the subway, switched trains again. Rode the train some more (which was packed) and then switched trains again. Finally I got on a train that wasn’t packed and I arrived in Choufu at 1pm. Left the gym at 9am and arrived in Choufu at 1pm. I consider myself lucky. Took a shower and made some lunch. Kana came home and prepared for a wedding she had to go to. I then made her some lunch and then I went to bed.

I woke up and spent all day writing this. I have so much to say, but I need to stop for now. This is already something like 6000 words. I will write up some more commentary in the coming days. Stay tuned!