A lot of people are asking me how was it during the 9.0 magnitude and a more or less 20 meters tsunami. We were about 300 kilometers away from the affected area but the earthquake was really frightening.
I had the worst case of hay fever that day so I went to the doctor. He prescribed me with a very strong medicine that would send me off to sleep and has to be taken before bed. After eating lunch my husband told me to drink the medicine coz I'm not going anywhere anyway. His company advised him to take the day's off coz he was too tired and exhausted in that whole week. Juday was sick and she also went to the doctor, Yoshi went to school and he's coming home at 3pm. After taking the medicine I was so sleepy so I went to bed. My body isn't used to drugs. I palpitate and am having heart burn all the time. And so as I was lying in bed I felt it vibrating. I thought it was my heart pounding and then the shaking and it's not stopping. Although I'm afraid of earthquakes I got used to Japan's frequent shakes. But they are short and small quakes. This time it's almost 5 minutes. Can you imagine to be just laying in bed and being shaken for minutes and you were just waiting for it to stop? So when it stopped we turned the TV on to check on the magnitude and other information. There in the 44 in screen is the rushing wave of tsunami sweeping everything on it's way. The broken bridge where cars were stuck and the drivers oblivious of what's happening then they saw the water suddenly climbing the bridge, they took a u-turn. The truck which was too big and too long couldn't do it (I just hoped that the driver was able to flee the disaster that was coming) because we just rely on the camera from the helicopter that was trying to show all the parts of the tragedy.
That was the moment when you will just cry and pray. And then I realized Yoshi is in school and he will be coming home anytime. Will they send them home? Or wait til everything is stable and safe. Because there were still aftershocks every now and then and you'll never know what might happen while the school children are walking the streets for almost 30 minutes. During disaster we are not supposed to pick them up by car. What about the tsunami? I am not familiar with our location. Are we near the open sea? Yes we're just 30 min. away from Yokohama where I can see vessels coming in and out. Then looking at the map I realized how lucky we are. That Chiba is covering us and there were some parts affected by tsunami.
Yoshi reached home safely and since we were in Japan I never thought of panic buying. We had enough food for a week, just the drinking water and gasoline were in critical condition.
The following day, I have to shop for milk (Yoshi doesn't drink water, he can consume 2 packs of fresh milk everyday) and I was surprised to see the supermarket almost empty. What happened here? The government announced not to worry because the supply is more than enough. That the food companies can sustain our needs even during crisis. I thought Japanese people are well disciplined, patriots and law abiding citizen. I always brand them like robots. You have to program them and they will do accordingly.
Then I was told, yes Japanese people are disciplined, patriots and law abiding citizen. And they are like robots. And it is programmed to help their fellowmen. The food that suddenly disappeared from the racks of supermarket were bought, packed and donated to their respective city halls for the victims of tsunami. It wasn't for their own, they weren't thinking of themselves but those who are much in need of food, clothing, and medicine. Because as we are still living the normal life, our heart goes to the people who lost their family, shelter and jobs.
(To be continued)
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