Japanese earthquake - The day the Earth moved

The resource room after the quake

I have been living in Japan for three years and I have felt many earthquakes. Some I have barely noticed, others have made me panic before abruptly ending. I have always been impressed how Japanese people take earthquakes in their stride. Continuing conversations, work, and journeys just seconds after the earthquakes have finished interrupting them.

But last Friday the biggest earthquake ever recorded in Japan struck just off the north east coast of Honshu (the main island of Japan). I work and live just south east of Tokyo so I was spared the full fury of nature and the resulting tsunami. Even so, the force I experienced had myself and the people who were with me at the time fearing for our lives.

The earthquake started during the second lesson of the day at my school, which is located on the fifth floor of a modern office building. At first it seemed like a very small earthquake and for the first thirty seconds or so we continued the lesson. But it quickly became stronger and stronger so I stopped the lesson and the students, three ladies and one man in their fifties, and I worriedly exchanged words and glances. I can't remember who, but one of us decided to go under the table and the rest of us quickly followed. The school's receptionist bravely made sure that the door and window were open (if doors are closed during an earthquake and the door frame deforms even a small amount, the door can become jammed) and then joined us.

Things become a bit blurry from this point, but I think we were under the table for about four minutes and during that time the earthquake was at it's worst. There were loud bangs coming from the school's resource room, where the school's books, Cd's, and other resources are stored. And crashing sounds coming from the reception area and other classroom.

Luckily, the classroom we were in did not have anything that posed any kind of danger. The only thing was the whiteboard which was swinging on it's hinges. The tables we were sheltering under tried to wander a few times but we held them tight. To calm ourselves we played a mini English came under the table.

After the quake had stopped we ventured out from the classroom, and found the school in a wreck but the actual building was fine.

It was good luck that nobody was in here

The picture to the right shows the damage caused to the resource room. It was lucky that nobody was in this room at the time.

Apart from that, the photocopier, which is very heavy, managed to move across the room it was in, moving at least a metre.

When we finished surveying the damage to the school we decided being outside was a better option. There were many people outside, talking or trying desperately to contact relatives and friends. It was during this time that I learned about the tsunami via the Internet on my mobile phone.

We were outside for only about thirty minutes when the first aftershock came. It was much weaker than the main earthquake but, for me at least, just as scary.

About three hours after the earthquake the word came from my bosses that school would close. So another teacher and I tried to make our way home. This proved impossible as the trains had all stopped services for the day so they could check for damage to the train tracks, signals and stations. There were also no buses going in the direction we wanted to go. However there was a taxi rank but, after asking people waiting for the taxi how long they had been waiting and being told three hours or more, we gave up on that idea. Eventually we headed to the nearest big town by bus and went to an emergency shelter for the night. The Japanese emergency staff were amazingly helpful. They gave us water, blankets and organised shelter. People in this shelter were trying to contact friends and relatives too. Again luckily for us during the night  limited train services resumed so we were able to get home.

It was only when I arrived home exhausted and started to watch T.V that I realised the full horor of what was unfolding further north and counted myself extremely lucky.