#JPQuake (March 11)

What happened this afternoon was quite possibly the most frightening experience of my life.

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On days when I don’t have a specific destination, I usually take my time getting dressed after I get out of the shower. Today was no different. I thought about going to the mall to look for a birthday gift but I wasn’t in any hurry so when I got out of the shower I took my time. I sat on the floor on my towel completely naked drinking tea with my computer on my lap. That’s when the earth started shaking.  Quakes happen often here so I figured this one would pass uneventfully.

Living in Japan has made me strangely accustomed to earthquakes but anything over 30 seconds and I start to get worried. At about 45 seconds in, the shaking got more violent I realized this one was going to be different. Once we reached the minute mark of increasingly violent shaking, I decided that I needed to find some panties and get dressed but just before I reached for my underwear drawer, my cabinet which had been rattling rather loudly crashed over in front of me and blocked the drawer. Undergarments were my last concern at this point, so I grabbed the first sweatpants and shirt I found and ran into the bathroom and closed the door. I took my toiletry basket off the top of toilet so nothing would fall and braced myself in there praying the shaking would stop.  When the power went out I knew for sure it was a big one. By now I was noticeably trembling but I didn’t occur to me how bad until the first one stopped. “Shit. This is some scary shit.”

All comes tumbling down

Finally the quake subsided and I opened the bathroom door to a completely disheveled and slightly rearranged room. All of the cabinets and my desk were at least 15-20cms away from the walls and some were pushed further by things that fell behind them. My Hello Kitty drinking glass was shattered among the mess.*Tear

Sayonara Kitty

Half dressed and coming to understand I just experienced a very severe earthquake my thoughts moved to “Where’s my cell phone?” and “Where’s my purse?” Looking around at the mess I couldn’t locate either. I tried to find some socks because the last thing I needed was an injured foot to add to the messy room and hell, since I didn’t have on any underwear the least I could do is put on some socks, right?  I saw a dirty pair on the floor. I put on the first one, grabbed the second one but it was soaked in something that spilled so I took off the sock, grabbed some shoes and went out in the hallway.

The fire extinguishers that usually neatly line the hallway had fallen over and the emergency fire hose door was open with the hose spilling out of it onto the floor.

The quake shook this door open

When I looked out the window from the 4^th floor hallway I saw that people had come out of their dorm rooms and were sitting on the ground. My neighbor came out and told me some things had fallen down in her place and it’s probably best that we get out of the building. I didn’t have any ID or method of communication so I headed back into my room to find them.

This started just before 3pm. It is now 3:59 and there have probably been 15 earthquakes since the first one. I’m not connected to the internet. My phone won’t get a signal so I have no idea where the origin was, if my friends are okay, if any damage has been done, I don’t know anything other than that the quakes were strong and everything around me seems to be okay.

I have never experienced anything like this and it scares me to think that something could have happened to someone I care about but I can’t contact anyone. This is giving me tremendous amounts of nervous energy which I have decided to use to clean up the mess in my room. My kettle has fallen over and my entire floor is wet. A bottle of something else has opened up and mixed with the water from the kettle. This is going to take a while, so I’ll focus on this and hope for the best.

For some reason I just totally disregarded my neighbor’s suggestion to leave the building. I don’t know why but cleaning seemed like the best thing to do with myself at the time so that’s what I did.

I think this is Japan’s way of telling me that she’s not ready for me to go yet. Well, getting angry and pushing people around isn’t a way to get me to stay. That’s for damn sure.

16:11 Update:  A full hour after the initial quake an announcement is made in the dorms that if anyone is hurt please come to the dorm office and to be careful of aftershocks. AN HOUR LATER?! WTF.

16:24 Update: Another announcement. This one says if anyone is hurt come to the office and since the aftershocks will probably continue we should make preparations to get out of the building. Guess it’s time to find my wallet and put on some panties.

17:26 Update: I finally left my room equipped with a small bookbag, my phone, wallet, camera, some snacks and my netbook (of course). I got on my bike and rode around the dorms to see what other people were doing but had to park my bike because the rear tire went flat. The aftershocks were still frequent and strong. A lot of people are gathered near the community center so I went over there and found my way to the cafeteria where they have a TV and I finally was able to see what was happening. [I don’t have a TV in my room] This is the first time I realize the location and magnitude of the quakes. 8.8M. Whoa.

18:01 Update: I just ate Japanese curry in the cafe. I hate Japanese curry. That gives you some insight into how serious the situation is around here. Small to midsize quakes are still happening every 20-30 minutes and each time people run out of the building into the yard. I have less than 1,000yen on me and this troubles me, especially since the news was reporting a lot of ATMs have been shut down. On a mission to find money I head to the convenience store closest to my dorm which is the 7-11. It is unreal in here.

People are buying ANYTHING they can get their hands on for food. The store is a complete mess! Some of the mess from the quake and some from the number of shoppers. It’s incredible. Lucky me, I just ate curry (bleh!)… but at least I’m not hungry.  And get this, THERE IS A LINE FOR THE PAYPHONE! When’s the last time you saw that happen?

A line for the public phone (there are 5 more people behind the 2 people you see)

18:?? Update: Walked over to my friend Ursula’s old place. She moved to Italy a month ago but I’m hoping the new people haven’t changed the passwords on the internet. It’s my only chance of getting on WIFI since the school network is down. Yes! Success. I’m able to connect and see that people have been worried about me on Twitter and Facebook. This made me cry. People who don’t really know me in real life are genuinely concerned about my welfare and I feel very, very blessed.

19:30 Update: No one was standing outside when I got back to the dorm so I decided to go back inside. There are still tremors at least every 20 mins. Some of them are small but some are pretty strong. Still no cell. Still no internet on campus. I keep tripping because I’ve NEVER experienced anything like this the whole 5.5 years I’ve lived in Japan. I think this experience has probably altered my post shower behavior for life.