Huge earthquake!

11 March 2011

Japan earthquake

Here's where we live: Google map

Quake center was around here.　I estimate the distance at almost 500 km (around 300 miles) from our apartment.

I was at home, and the building started shaking.  I've been in plenty of quakes before, including Wednesday in the same spot (a 7.9 I think), so I figured it'd soon be over.  But it just kept going!  The furniture was moving, so I moved to a doorway in a concrete wall.  Our place is the 9th floor, so the building was really rocking.  We still have some boxes stacked from moving, so I thought they might fall.  A few books fell, one tall floor lamp, and one box of photos.  The file cabinet doors came open, but luckily that's all at our place.  

Our 6th grader, Leo was held at school, so I walked over to get him around 4:30 when the shaking settled down.  Of course the elevator was stopped.  The schoolkids had to leave without their backpacks and shoes (no going back inside the building).  Leo said they stayed under their desks for about 10 min before moving to the gym.  They have chair cushions that double as head protection, so they all used those against falling objects. 

After leaving Leo's school the supermarket was closed, so we stopped at a convenience store (7 Eleven).  There was a line of about 15?, but 3 cashiers kept people moving.  Things were calm, and no damage was visible in the store.  One person had an armful of water bottles, and another had 4-5 cups of instant ramen, but there was still plenty of stuff on the shelves.  We got the mail (delivered as usual although the PO closed early), and hiked up 9 floors.  

Our 9th grader was stuck at school because the trains were stopped and it's about 15 km away.  He was later able to go home with a friend who lives close to school, where he spent the night.  The school sent us frequent email updates (10 yesterday alone), telling where the students were, and how to authorize their release to a third party.  

My wife Mika was at work near Tokyo station.  The trains were stopped, so she was going to stay overnight in the office or go home with a co-worker (estimated 2.5 hour walk!).  Phones were jammed, but we were able to communicate by email.  Eventually, she was able to get on the bullet train, which stops near our house, where I picked her up in the car around 10 pm.  Most regular trains were still out of service, which was partly waiting to check the tracks, and partly out of concern for aftershocks affecting moving trains (possible derailment, or stranding passengers inside).  

We had just re-checked our disaster bag a few weeks ago, so that was ready to go.  We have canned water (lasts like 5 years) and emergency noodles which also last years.  Flashlights, insurance info and cash money are other things always ready to go.  Other advice we hear is to fill the bathtub immediately, in case water service is cut off.  From the Kobe quake, we know that the toilet is something often forgotten - it takes water to flush!  We slept last night with coats and shoes next to the bed.  

One important lesson is that you can't rely on phones in an emergency, especially cell phones.  Cell phone service was nearly zero until this morning, and even landlines didn't connect long distance.  It's critical to decide beforehand where you will go in an emergency.  

We have lots more quakes here than in LA, and Japanese are famously low-key, so the mood around here has been calm.  For the moment, people are staying pretty close to home.  After the Kobe quake ('95), the volunteers came out a couple days later, partly because transportation links were bad, but also because people move cautiously.  Another trivial fact: public TV had emergency information in Korean, English, Mandarin, Italian and Portuguese.  I got several automated emails with earthquake warnings from the national Meteorological Agency.  I don't think I ever requested them.  I assume it's a kind of reverse 911 system.  Tokyo opened public high schools last night as rest stations for people walking home over long distances (since most people commute by train, the second option is often walking for several hours!).  We saw many videos of emergency shelters (schools and other public facilities), and the staffs seemed to have things under control, with water, blankets, generators, food and such.  The nuclear power plant in Fukushima seems to be an exception.  The 4 or 5 emergency diesel generators all failed, so cooling the reactor is a worry.  Of course that is very close to the quake center.  

You may have noticed that most of the destruction seems to be from the tsunamis, not the earthquake itself.  I think this is a testament to seismic construction standards, but tsunami-floods are hard to plan for.