The Miyagi Earthquake

I thought I had better post something about this. Obviously I don't need to tell you that a massive earthquake occurred off the coast of north east Japan on Friday afternoon. It has just been upgraded to a magnitude of 9.0, making it one of the five biggest earthquakes in recorded world history. Bottom line from my point of view is that I'm ok, and am currently just sitting at home, thinking of the poor people in the devastated area in the North of Japan and watching (but not really understanding) the news about the nuclear plant in Fukushima which is currently having various issues.

Anyway, I'll tell you how it's all played out in my area, although it is not one of the worstly hit at all. For info, if you look at a map of Japan, I'm in Gunma prefecture, right on the tip bit nearest to Tokyo. At about quarter to 3 on Friday, tremors began. Earthquakes are very common in Japan and it only took a few weeks of living here to get used to quick jolts beneath my feet. The longer ones are always slightly scarier for me, but, by and large, you just learn to just wait for it to finish and to carry on with what you were doing. Friday's one was a lot different. After 20 seconds or so, the ground was still shaking and it just felt like it was growing and growing. I was in the staff room at my juniour high school, with about 15 other members of staff. Everybody started looking at eachother in a sort of a "is this a really big one then? Should we be doing something?" way. I am so relieved that I was with other people...basically, I just copied everyone, so I put out my hands and held my computer screen in place. Some of the teachers went and opened the windows (I'm not actually sure what that's for, something to do with less chance of them breaking?) and then the vibrations got much bigger, anything that was hanging began swinging back and forth and then, all of the computers and lights went off. Previously to that, a few teachers had been nervously saying "should we get under our desks?" but the lights going out made it clear that that was what we should do, so we all got down and sat under our desks, while the shaking continued. A few things crashed and banged around me, but it was fairly clear that is wasn't the building and was just fittings or other objects. The only person not under his desk was the headteacher, who walked down the staffroom to hold up the massive new free-standing air-conditioner thing they've just brought. I watched his funny trainers going past and just thought he was like Superman or something. I was so scared! I can't believe he was so so concerned about the air-conditioner!! I think the earthquake might have lasted about 3 minutes from the first time we could feel a tremor to it stopping. It was really unnerving and it felt like it was shaking so much...I can't imagine how terrifying it must have been nearer the epicentre. It must have been horrendous.

On emerging, everyone looked worried but calm. We all set about clearing up broken glasses and picking up fallen chairs and books etc. Some of the brave staff went around and checked all the rooms for damage and the other staff - there was next to no damage and everyone was fine. Luckily for me, the children had already all gone home, because it had been the graduation ceremony that day and so they all went home early. I was in the best place...the thought of being on my own, or on a train full of strangers, or, as I would have been on any other weekday this month or last month, in a room full of primary school children that I am responsible for, and, even worse, a room without desks. Having said that, I have since spoken to two friends, one who was teacing in primary school and one who was in nursery school, and they also noted the lack of panic. I have been INCREDIBLY impressed with the reaction of the people here. No hysteria, no panic. Even talking to friends in worse affected areas or watching the pictures on TV of the devastated towns, the reaction still seems relatively calm. A true testament to the lack of selfishness amongst Japanese people and putting what is best for the wider community first. Anyway, I was truly in the best place. Well, a better place would have been further south in Japan, or indeed, not in Japan, but, you know what I mean.

In the staff room, somebody managed to access the internet on their mobile and found out that the epicentre was in Miyagi and that is was a "7" and that we had felt it as a "weak 5." I thought they were talking about the richter scale, but, it turns out that there is a different scale in Japan based on shakiness (?) instead of energy, 7 being the top. Weak 5 is basically still a lot but unlikely to knock down buildings. Most of Tokyo felt a strong 5 apparently. The fact that it was in Miyagi (two prefectures over from me and about 200km away as a teacher told me) made me very worried about what the damage might be there, but, I was slightly relieved at the same time that it hadn't had its epicentre in Tokyo. Everyone in the staff room speculated for a while about whether there would be big aftershocks and, sure enough, a couple of minutes later they started. Two of them sent us under the desks again...actually, one of them sent us all under our desks and the other one sent a few of the wusses under their desks - I am a wuss. The atmosphere in the staffroom remained calm, humour was still present. One teacher teased me for getting under my desk the third time and the school secretary got word from her husband that he was ok and announced "he's ok...unfortunately." I'm not sure how different nations react to things, but the continuted nervous humour and the reluctancy to panic and assume straight away that the earthquake was going to be big when we first felt shaking, or that it was likely to have been a tragedy in the area that it hit before we knew anything, reminded me somewhat of a British reaction to big events...maybe all countries react like that, but I'm not sure. However, I'm sure the UK would have seen much more hysteria once it became clear just how dramatic the effects were in reality, but Japan really doesn't seem to have. For the next hour and half, the mainline phone was off and on, but we had no power, water, or mobile coverage. The headteacher, Clark Kent, told us to go home and check our homes etc. I didn't really want to go and be alone, because the aftershocks were still rumbling away and I knew that I would literally have no information at home. However, as the last few people were leaving, I went too. I walked my bike back, just to be on the safe side, as the ground was a bit shakey and the traffic lights weren't working. There were no signs of damage in the town, except for a broken plaque to a park and some fallen roof tiles.

I was a little bit scared to open my flat's door, but, I had to let out a laugh as I did, to find two eggs had broken on the floor. If that's the worst that's happened I thought! I'd bought about 10 eggs the other day for pancake day as it was all I could find and was worried about using them that night as they'd officially gone off on Thursday, so that was that decision made for me! The only other damage was a broken mug which had jumped into the bath, as I'd left it on the side after my naughty breakfast bathtime coffee...silly Mark. Also, my globe had committed suicide from off of the top of my TV and into my kotatsu. Apart from that, it was mostly just food that had been flung about a bit and the fridge that had leapt forward a tad and sent the blender down the back of it. It's really amazing how strong things are!

Anyway, I still had NO IDEA how large the earthquake had actually been up in Miyagi. My flat was without phone, electricity, water or gas. I just sort of sat for a couple of hours to ride out the aftershocks and tried not to panic (not easy...I had no idea how to tell what was going to be a big one, and couldn't decide if it was safer to get under my kotatsu if a big one came or to get out of the building.) Just on the off-chance that somebody saw something about it on international news, I updated my Facebook status from my phone and emailed my parents...thank God I did! I still hadn't imagined that it would make worldwide headlines. Gas came back on, but unfortunately, I spent the night without water, power or phone, and my mobile phone's battery went dead. I stupidly waited until it went dark to find a torch, so I was clambering around using my iPod for light as I tried to find it and then find batteries for it. Not my most nimble of moments. In the night, I didn't sleep more than 15 minutes at a time without being woken up by an afterschock, or sirens outside, or the town hall's van going round making announcements that anyone in trouble should go to the community centre.

Everything came back on at 6am the following day and I managed to speak to friends and family at home and in Japan. I was in complete ignorant bliss of the tsunami and the damage that had been caused, so I was very shocked to find the number of emails and Facebook messages piling up. I was very grateful for Facebook yesterday - it was great that I managed to update my status to let people know that I was ok and put people's minds at rest. Seeing the pictures on the news really paints a scary picture and, thankfully, where I am is nothing like that at all...neither is Tokyo. Most of the country has been very lucky. The Japanese and the British media coverage has been VERY different. It seems even the BBC has sensationalised something that really doesn't need to be sensationalised at all, it is dreadful as it is and everyone knows that. I might write another piece about that another time. Of course, this massive earthquake and tsunami have caused a great deal of devastation in the area, and the media shouldn't play that down, but it doesn't need building up either.

Yesterday, last night and today, the afterschocks have been much smaller and further between for the most part. I don't think I've felt any in the last 3 hours or so (touch wood!). My supervisor from work drove me to the supermarket yesterday to get supplies and explained some more things about the earthquake to me, she also rang me at about 7.30pm on the night of the earthquake, when the phones were working briefly, to check that I was ok and that I had a torch etc. She has been amazing, because, it has been a very lonely time and not having any electricity on the first night was truly horrible, so even speaking to her for one minute was very reassuring, even if it was what put my phone out of battery - ironically just as she was telling me that if another massive one was going to come, my phone should bleep and warn me! The phone warning system was a bit broken she said the next day. None of us got anything for the actual quake (it's only about 10 seconds or so in advance anyway, but still...) and then I DID get one at about 7 on Friday evening and almost had a heart attack, running outside, thinking, it's going to be even bigger, seeing as I've got a warning this time, but, I didn't feel anything at all. Yesterday's ones were all correct. They come on the TV as well, anything that ranks about 3 on the Japanese scale I think. Amazing to get any warning at all really! Very intelligent!

Today, I've cleared up the last of the mess here, caught up on lack of sleep with little interruption and emailed a couple of friends. I've also made the mistake of thinking my bath was totally dry, so that it would be safe to try and hoover up the tiny bits of broken china in it, please picture that image to give yourself a laugh...the electric plug is a mile away as well so it was bit of a stretch around a corner, and then picture my alarmed face as I realise that some water has got inside the hoover and my bathroom floor is getting covered in brown water!! Still not quite sure what I'm gonna do about that...I hope it's not broken for good because it belongs to the board of education and I can't cope with fuss! What a plonker!

The supermarket trip yesterday showed that it was pretty much business as usual around here...hairdresser's was open, some kids were about in school uniform, obviously coming back from sport practice. I've heard that Tokyo is fairly similar. It's just the really hard hit areas around the coast in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima that are in big trouble still it seems. There are some other electricity problems still in other parts of the country I think. I've been very lucky. Really, it's just time to think about the people who haven't been so fortunate. It's a massive shocking earthquake, and the tsunami has caused a lot of damage in certain areas. Many people are totally out of contact and are not sure if their relatives are safe or not. Naturally, the death toll is rising. Aftershocks and cold weather are making it even harder to sort things out. I hope people are able to make contact as soon as possible. Clearly the whole of Japan is shocked and worried about the people in the affected areas.

I've been very humbled by the amazing calmness and consideration of the Japanese people and the unity and support I've felt from all of my friends in Japan (not just the Japanese ones), let alone the concern from my friends, family, friends of family, and, indeed, people I've never heard of back in the UK...My Mum's been telling all about cousin George and the lady that comes into her work once a week, the next-door-neighbour-but-one's ex-girlfriend's dog etc. all asking about me...Thank you everyone for your concern! I am fine, just a bit, pardon the pun, shaken.