Earthquake, part Two

This is the second part of my experience of the Japan Earthquake on 11th March 2011. We have just made it down stairs and news of the widespread impact was slowly getting through to us in our part of Tokyo.

For part one, click here

For part three, click here

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My only thought now was with my friends, in other parts of Tokyo. Were they safe? Was there any major damage? I tried to call, but the phone line was out of action. Damn!

Straight on to the facebook application on my iPhone, “Head count please, that was the biggest earthquake ever. Let me know you are ok please.” Within minutes everyone I know was on facebook: good news, everyone was safe, and almost as soon as I posted, well wishes were coming in from all over the world.

News came in pretty quickly that the epicenter was way up in Sendai, about 360 Kilometers away. Now, I can’t remember if I blasphemed here (sorry mum…) or swore…　（again, sorry mum） but down here in Tokyo it was huge, what must it have been like up there…?

Shit! Ayako has family up there, are they ok…?

Straight away we were aware of the tsunami threat, but did not realize then how serious it would be. There have been many threats over the years, and all turned out to be nothing more than a few waves that a couple of surfers might enjoy.

Ayako and Setsuko were getting worried now; none of us could get through to their mother or father. They both live in Tokyo, but they live in a very old apartment block… I tried to reassure them that they would be fine, that they would have got out, but I have to admit, I wasn’t so sure, not that building…

I looked around and noticed a few foreigners outside. One was American, just been in this building a week, the other and his son were from India, all up on a higher floor than me. All looked visibly shaken, as we all were. We exchanged stories, amazed that we could see no damage, though we heard some rather unnerving sounds during the shake, but we could not see a single broken window… Amazing!

I went back inside to check up on Ayako and the others. Noriko, the neighbor, was hyperventilating so Setsuko got her some water. Amazingly, somehow the shop staff, in the super market on the ground floor, kept working through it all, and were still bravely manning the tills!

The ground started to shake again…

I made to go outside, but Ayako said to stay inside. I knew she was right; falling debris is the number one killer in an earthquake, but the idea of getting crushed or trapped under a thousand tons of concrete was not a good option either; kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place…literally!

Just as before, the ground surged, almost as strong as before… Things started falling onto the lobby roof. Sounds of glass smashing filled the air, some women screamed, a child cried. This felt every bit as bad as the previous one.

“Ayako, we’re getting out!”

Cautiously, I peeked out from under the lobby door, no falling bricks. “Let’s go!”

“Where?”

Anywhere but here, “the park, just round the corner, we’ll be safe there.”

The foreigners that we met outside the lobby tagged along, happy to get away from the building. We found an open space, and sure enough, it was much better than being inside! The ground still shook, but the panic subsided and gave way to awe.

The buildings swayed (not so scary from the outside), it was almost majestic. A couple of radio aerials were dancing widely. The telephone cables swung and amid all this, amazingly, the traffic continued to move along the road. A couple of business people were even calmly going to wherever they had to be. Crowds of people had come out of local shops and were staring aghast at our apartment block. It is one of the tallest buildings in that part of the city, and it was leaning from side to side…

Surreal…

The shaking stopped: still no visible damage!

It was getting cold now, and one of the foreigners was barefoot. We went to the convenience store (where again, the cashiers were bravely manning the tills), and got some hot drinks to share around.

We debated what to do. Two choices; stay outside or go inside. The ground shook again… We waited!

After a while, trying to make small talk, cracking a few jokes and calming down, we heard that the meeting rooms in our apartment block were open for people to shelter in. They are on the second floor and so much easier to escape from, and they don’t shake as much as the rooms on higher floors.

It was warm too!

It is strange. After a big shake like that, your body has a strange sense of balance, like being on a ship in mildly choppy waters. You think the ground is moving when it is not, and when it is moving it can take a while to realize the situation. We were all unnerved by the quake and every now and then someone would say “earthquake?” and we would all go still.

“is it?”

“No…”

“Yes, it is…, oh, maybe…”

“Whew.”

Whenever this happens, your heart starts pounding against the inside of your chest as if trying to get out, and your stomach tightens as you gauge whether to tough it out or flee.

I had run out without my keys, and wallet, and only had whatever coins were in my pocket. Ayako and Setsuko were the same. None of us had coats, and we did not know how long it would be before we could return. Noriko, had a coat and her wallet, but was not in any state to think for herself. The American from the 27^th floor had a few yen in his pocket and the Indian and his son from the 23^rd floor, had nothing.

After we had been in the meeting rooms for about 45 minutes, and had not felt any shaking I decided to make a run upstairs to get a few bits and pieces. Ayako insisted on coming with me. I didn’t want her to come, but she didn’t want to be without me…

“Straight in, straight, out.” I said. “If it starts shaking again, we both leave immediately, no matter how big.”

Funny. Usually, 16 flights of stairs seem insurmountable, but today, a mix of adrenalin and recent trips to the gym, made it seem like nothing. In no time, and without breaking a sweat, we both made it up.

There was broken glass on the floor of the entrance.

“Keep your shoes on Ayako, don’t worry about custom right now, we’ll clean up later if we have to.”

The computers were still on and someone had even “Skyped” me! I shut it down and put it in a bag, grabbed my passport and bankbook, found my wallet, put on my coat and picked up a handful of snacks. We both picked up blankets and extra jackets or sweaters for the others, and socks for the barefooted Indian.

The ground started to shake again…

Not as scary this time, but the creaking of the building was loud! As promised, we ran down again. The run back seemed to take longer than the run up. But, by the time we made it down, the shaking had stopped, and surprisingly everyone was still in the meeting room.

Word was coming through now that a Tsunami had hit, but we still didn’t know how bad it was. However, we did know that an oil refinery in Chiba had caught fire, so too had a construction site in Tokyo bay. This thing was big! To top it off, we were still concerned that we couldn’t get hold of mother, or the Auntie in Sendai.

The tension was starting to build now. Noriko could not get hold of her husband, nor could any of the others contact their families.

I knew my family was safe in bed, in the U.K., but hoped to God they would see my facebook updates before they see the news…