Big damn earthquake.

Earthquake happened. It was pretty crazy.

Friday, just before 3 pm, I was finishing a rather entertaining class where my friend the primary teacher had prepared a Jeopardy-style game for the kids to play. This class was particularly special because this period had been designated for parental observation. We practiced the “lesson” a bit with other classes leading up to this point, and we ended up impressing the parents, I think. Just after we said our closing words and started cleaning up the room, the other teacher and I noticed an earthquake had begun. Out of instinct or habit, the other teacher instructed the students to get low to the ground, relatively calmly and unconcerned. Most of the students didn't listen and continued preparing to head home with their parents. Earthquakes are fairly common in Japan, so I wasn't surprised by this at all. But this earthquake kept coming.

Two days prior, I had been in Mito, about an hour north of my town, when we received a 3.4 shock, the biggest I had ever experienced. Friday, I realized that might have just been a hint at tectonic activity to come at the moment this quake seemed a bit different. As it continued, students started listening to us. I literally shoved kids under desks, holding their heads there. A minute in, people were screaming, everyone was down, and it was all rather chaotic. I failed to recognize the presence of any real danger, which gave me the composure to handle the students calmly. After about two minutes, the shaking stopped, and the kids were quickly rushed out the door. Many children tried to get their bags ready so they could go home with their belongings, coats, or whathaveyou. Knowing the general rule of fire drills back home, I shuffled many of these students out the door without their belongings. I left behind my jacket (with apartment key).

The school was evacuated, an easy feat considering the 3rd year students have all graduated. We shuffled out towards the field, where teachers took attendance, as the after-shocks began. Within the next hour or so, the teachers tried to get kids home with all their belongings, sending several of the male teachers into the building between rumbles to retrieve bags at random. I was among these teachers. Another large shock came and ultimately it was decided it would be too dangerous to continue with the bags.

Kids were upset, many just surprised, others annoyed, some scared. I don't think anyone had realized just what had happened yet. People were getting onto the Internet from their phones and rumors of a 9.2 (ultimately revealed to be 9.0) earthquake started circulating. People with relatives in Tohoku, the area most heavily affected, freaked out.

After the kids went home, the teachers stood outside for a while, waiting out the primary danger, or something. Honestly, I'm not sure what we were doing just standing there. There was really nothing to be done at that point, nothing better to do than to sit around. Lucky we were there, though, when a student came running back to the school, yelling for help. Moments later, one of the younger male teachers came running in carrying an old woman, the student's grandmother, who had fallen. She's fine now, but the will of these teachers, the want to help... was really quite inspiring. They provided her with a blanket and a pillow, set her on a bench, and saw to her safety for the rest of the time.

Eventually, teachers went back inside to try the phones, water, etc. The power was out, and the water wasn't working. The phones were down and everything was a mess. But, people seemed confident enough about the safety of the building that I was allowed to run back to the larger part of the school where I had left my belongings. I normally wouldn't have taken the risk, but my house keys were up there. On my way through the school, I saw the true extent of the damage. Wood panelling on a wall popped off, a part of the ceiling fell in the hall, some doors came off their sliding tracks. Really, nothing major. I was surprised to find out the school was closed until Thursday.

Afterwards, I went home to find my mess of an apartment slightly more messy. Most anything I had stacked was now unstacked. Nothing is broken, thankfully. I took a walk, surveyed the damage, and took some pictures around town.
There really wasn’t much going on besides the loss of power. Some walls dividing properties and roads fell over a bit, some roofs lost some tiles. An electronics store lost some glass and its sign. Upon returning, I met my neighbors for the first time in the seven months I’ve been here.

I spent the night using my bike's light as a flashlight but ended up so bored I just went to sleep. I managed to get a call out to my friend an hour south from me to confirm her well-being. Then I found that I could still send emails from my phone, so I contacted my parents and one carefully chosen friend who could tell the world we were okay the quickest. The sun set completely by seven. The night sky without the city’s light pollution was breathtaking; truly a refreshing view after the day’s trouble. I went to bed shortly after, woken up every few hours by an after shock. One in particular was pretty bad and prompted me to leave the apartment until it was over. I’ve been sleeping in clothes ever since.

I woke up at dawn the next day, disappointed the overhead light hadn't turned on during the night to alert me I had regained power. I had wanted to sleep through the hours without power, but no such luck. I wasn’t able to get online and contact my friends and family until about 11 am that day.

Before the power was restored, I went on an adventure around the town to see what I could learn. Vice principals were standing around at the school, happy to see me and answer some questions about the extent of the quake. At that point, I had no idea how bad off the area just 170 miles north of us was. After a short chat, I learned the trains weren’t running in our neck of the woods (still aren't), but the power was on its way back district by district. I checked the grocery store to find a huge line of people waiting to buy non-perishables set out on a table in front of the store. The same lines were at every store I checked, no matter how small.

Then I dropped by the chicken place near my apartment, delighted to see that my buddy the owner had opened up business for the day. I had a delicious breakfast of yakitori thanks to him. It was during that breakfast that the power finally came back. Hurray!

Through the past few days, I’ve noticed people rebuilding so calmly, so... normally. It’s as though life hasn’t changed at all here. I went back to that chicken place a few nights later for a quick to-go meal, but ended up drinking and chatting with random Japanese people for hours on end. The virtue of Japanese tradition showed itself strongly that night as these strangers poured drinks for me, offered me delicious foods, and spoke with me. We even managed to regard the earthquake lightheartedly, joking that an aftershock was responsible for a man’s drunken stumble.

My experience has been a walk in the park compared to the damage done just north of here. This nuclear power plant situation is troubling, but we’ll manage. Most international media outlets are sensationalizing the news there anyway. I have friends far south of here should anything major happen. In the meantime, I’d like to ask that anyone feeling like they want to help should donate to the Red Cross or another relevant charity. Though your contribution may be small, the more people who get into the mindset of donating, the more those little amounts add up! Short of that, keep the people here in your thoughts and prayers, they certainly need it.