Earthquake 2011

I was walking back from lunch at this restaurant down the street from work yesterday when the earthquake hit. I didn't even notice it at first, but when Erica stopped me from walking under the overhang of a building nearby, I noticed this big locked freezer thing next to me shaking uncontrollably. It wasn't til a few seconds later when the ground started shaking pretty violently. We ran out into the street with a couple of pedestrians nearby and held on to each other, which didn't really help much. We were falling all over each other like you would if you stood up on a moving boat, but even worse was that I couldn't tell which direction the waves were coming from to try and keep myself from falling.

Eventually we had to squat down and just watch people flee from outside the buildings. The building I was originally under started to collapse, and a man ran out from underneath the overhang just as it came crashing down. Other people ran out of their apartments and offices screaming and crying; most of the people I talked to said it was the biggest earthquake they had ever felt. Afterwards, the damage to the sidewalks and the buildings was pretty severe, and sewage pipes burst and flooded water at almost every corner. Tons of people took refuge in the park until the news said it was clear to find shelter. For about 24 hours Jonan, my neighborhood of Mito, didn't have any power or water. I wish I would have taken more pictures.

We ended up sleeping at Amagai-Sensei's parents house in the country. They took great care of us! They gave us warm towels and cooked us curry and rice on their gas-powered stove. The house was gorgeous and since the power was out for miles and miles it was the first time I've seen that many stars since I was in Wyoming about 10 years ago. Overall it was a blessing, considering everyone else went to the high school and took shelter in the gym with hundreds of other displaced people. The tremors happened all night, but it was still much more comfortable than being at home. It's about 11:23 p.m. here now, about 33 hours after the big earthquake and we're still getting tremors every half an hour or so. Supposedly there have been about 125 small earthquakes since the huge one, over a dozen of which have been 6.0 or greater (a 6.0 earthquake on land could kill a ton of people, luckily for Japan all these earthquakes are taking place off-shore). 

Hopefully it goes without saying that I am safe from the Japan Earthquakes for now. The earthquake yesterday was a huge disaster here, and although the people of Mito are more inconvenienced than in danger, it was still one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me. The actual shaking of the earth was more exhilarating than scary, and because I didn't get any tsunami's in Mito my life wasn't a living hell for the last two days, but I still catch myself wonder, "what if the tsunami was off the coast here, and not Sendai?" So far the news is saying about 1700 confirmed deaths in the regions to the north, but only 1 in my prefecture of Ibaraki... It's kinda useless to, but it leaves me asking, "why not here?" Luckily, I live to fight another day.