My First Earthquake

It was Sunday morning 3/20/05 just before 11 AM here, and we were on the phone with Lisa & Larry. It started out slowly at first and Stan said, “we’re having an earthquake!” We live in an apartment building, and the jets rattle us, so I didn’t realize what it was at first, so of course, I thought he was joking. Now, Stan was in one when he was in Tokyo last fall before I got here, so I guess he knew what it felt like. Slowly, the house really began to rock & I could hear the glassware and doors rattling – louder & louder. I instinctively got up & stood in the bathroom doorway – really to brace myself & keep my balance – not thinking that is what you are supposed to do. I asked Stan (since he was in the LR & I was in the MBR) to grab the antique glassware off the top of the bookcase while I was watching the vertical blinds beat back & forth on the door to the balcony. All this time, we stayed on the phone, so Lisa & Larry rode it out with us, which must have been very weird for them. Our building is “earthquake safe” because it was built with giant springs in the foundation, so that may be why it felt more like I was standing on a rocking boat, instead of just vibration or shaking, like people usually describe. It felt like it lasted a minute (or an eternity!), but Stan says it was only 15-20 seconds or so. Nothing fell off or broke, but later, I noticed that many of the pictures on the walls were crooked. It was a very surreal feeling and all the hair on my body was standing up (like when you almost have a car accident . . .) I turned on the TV and stopped at the Japanese weather/news station. Although we could not understand what they were saying, it was apparent they were talking about the quake – they began to show pictures of slight damage. Stan got on the Internet & found the official US earthquake site. It was centered in the sea just off of the city of Fukuoka, which is on next island – Kyushu – just south of us, where we were last week when we drove to Sasabo. Here is the link: http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/ The Japanese TV station began to show numbers for the areas of Japan, and our area showed 4s & 5s, where the area near the center showed 5s & 6s. The Japanese scale only goes to 7, but on the Richter scale it was classified as 6.4. The early reports showed cracks in parking lots and a few broken sidewalks. We decided to stay in on Sunday & only felt one slight aftershock later in the afternoon. I would not like to be in our elevator when one starts . . . By Sunday night the news began showing heavier damage in residential areas, and an Australian station reported 1 death and over 250 injured. We saw pictures of tall office buildings with many windows broken out, which would explain why the people on a video were running from the sidewalks into the street when the quake began. (Someone in Japan always has a camera.) They also showed the Shin (the bullet train) stopped in the countryside – not at a station – which is something you never see. Now we know that it automatically stops when there is an earthquake in order to prevent derailing. It was a very humbling experience and a not-so-subtle reminder that we’re really not the ones in charge. We just live our lives the best we can – not wasting a minute of this fantastic adventure – because we never know what lies ahead . . .