Earthquake (With Updates) (2011-03-13)
March 11, 2:46pm; damn, the biggest earthquake ever recorded in Japan! I'm still speechless looking at the pictures of devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami on the news.
I was in the kitchen when I felt the first shake. I had been startled by quakes before, but when this one hit, I was petrified! I really thought "this may be it, I'm going to die!". Thought the roof's gonna collapse on me! Everything shook, the floor rolled (not just shook), dishes rattled, things fell, glass doors made that horrible loom loom loom sound. I crawled my way (as soon as the floor "stabilized" for a split second) to the toilet and hid there on and off (ducking out between tremors to do such stuff as grabbing some essentials and our neurotic cat who decided to fight me getting into his carry case and then shrieked non-stop while in it).
We had tons of aftershocks all night, some frighteningly big.KL, like hundreds and thousands of other salarymen, walked home from the office as every single train line stopped, major overpasses closed causing gridlock in traffic (no way and no point of catching a cab). He was lucky it only took him 2 hours to walk home.
The tenant behind ours whom I've never talked to (and the only one around in our complex) came to check on me and asked me if I knew how to turn the gas back on (the fact is after 11 yrs living here, I didn't!). He's so nice!
Read on the news that convenience stores, designated department
stores and gathering places handing out water, food and shelter to
walkers and those who couldn't make it home with the government picking
up the tab. But what KL saw was convenience stores jam-packed
with paying customers buying food and water.
People lined up in an orderly fashion to use the public phones (all cell phones down) and at train stations once they reopened, there's no looting and no hysterical people on the streets. Everyone was worried and alert but calm and disciplined.
Update: My family and relatives have expressed deep
concern of the situation in Japan, specifically the place KL and I
live. To those who wonder how it is in Tokyo, I can tell you it's
pretty much back to normal. People go out shopping, run errands and
go about their daily lives. Yes, some of the essential supplies in
supermarkets are sold out, but many more usual items are well stocked.
I understand my family/relatives are so concerned about our safety
that they want us to board the first flight out of Japan. But as
resident David Samworth of Nagoya (
) wrote to BBC , "I am disappointed to
read of foreign businesspeople who are readying to flee the country at
the first sight of trouble; if you come to Japan to make your
livelihood then that comes with a responsibility to your hosts to help
in their time of need - and if ever there was one, this is now." I
can't agree with him more.
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