On March 11 2011,I was sitting on my bed watching one of my favorite shows, Archer, for a bit of a break between study. I was almost at the end of the show when the mild shaking began, and since there had been a previous quake around Sendai that was much milder within the past week, I figured it was just a mild aftershock.
Wrong.After 5 seconds, the quake was building up in strength steadily, and I realized that this wasn't just a mild aftershock. I got under the desk near my bed just as the quake began to hit full force. The room was shaking quite strongly and things were falling off shelves and a drinking glass fell and broke. This was a strong quake and you could hear the roar of the quake just as strongly as you felt the shaking. This was by far the strongest one I had felt during my time in Japan, and at that time I thought maybe that it had been the big quake that everyone expected to hit the Kanto region. It was that strong.
As I stood up straight, I felt the entire building still swaying for at least a minute after the quake. I was lucky that very little had fallen or broke in my room (including myself on that list). The direction of the side-to-side swaying motion had allowed most of my books to stay on their shelves. I would have to clean up plenty of glass from the glass cup that fell to the ground and broke. I was extremely lucky I figured, especially being in such an old dorm building.
The room was still swaying immediately afterthe quake. At first I thought maybe I was dizzysince earthquakes tend to confuse your balance,as it is hard to tell which is actually moving, your mindor the earth.
I was also surprised that the electricity was still connected and that I seemed to still have an internet connection. There was some sort of announcement about the quake on the dorm loud speaker, so I went down to see if I needed to do anything like check-in. I still didn't know the location of the quake or what had happened at this time, most people didn't, and millions were stuck outside of their homes and would end up having to walk back for hours in the cold to get to their home. The damage to the dorm seemed extremely minimal.
After I got back to my room to clean up the glassAnother quake began and the room began to shake. This time I had my camera; however, while you can hear the roar of the quake a bit, it was not even 20% as strong as the original quake.Still, I thought it might be a good idea to take some cover. The dorm is an extremely old building that just got hit pretty hard, so better safe than concrete hitting my head.Video of quake in TokyoThis video that some guy posted on YouTube shows the
approximate strength of the quake that hit the Mitaka/Tokyo
area. It looks like he started recording half-way through, sincethe quake itself was much longer than this video.
I checked on the internet and turned on the news and found that the quake was north of Tokyo, a 8.9 that hit the Tohoku region. There was still very limited information as to what had happened and where had been hit. Keitai and phone service was out, especially for Softbank users like myself for which the signal often gets interrupted by dust in the air.
The TV was still chaotic and news stations just getting information about the quake and there was a near Japan-wide tsunami warning in effect.
This video is of when the tsunami first hit Japan right after the quake. Initially, I was not sure what was going on or the locations, but the news then switched to the view from a helicopter over Sendai. At first it looked like a massive fire below, due to the distance, but as the camera zoomed it was actually a rush of water. With the messages on the screen changing rapidly, I first thought it was Chiba. After listening a bit further I found that it was up near Sendai. I was still quite worried since I had friends up north, and also Chris Lamb was in Chiba and Nick Austria couldn't get a hold of him yet, nor could I since service was out. Another friend I was quite worried about was up at Tsukuba University, but no information yet.I was lucky that I was able to talk to my mother online to let her know that I was ok. I had sent an email immediately after the quake hit. Once again, just like during past smaller quakes, the news on the US radio stations failed their responsibilities miserably and reported the quake as a 9.0 in the center of Tokyo. I knew to let her know that I was okay right away to try to save her some panic and worry.
The rest of the day was spent trying to contact friends via Facebook and assess the situation. This was the start of a crazy month, which would soon be followed by the first explosion at Fukushima the next day. Hundreds upon hundreds of small aftershocks varying in size would follow and still are occurring to this day.
At night there were a few train lines finally up and running, but most people had to stay over at work, a friend's house, or walk back. In Tokyo, some people walked up to 8 hours in the cold to get back home, the whole time not knowing if friends or family who were up north were okay or not, or worse, not knowing their friends and family up north were dead yet. It was a really horrible situation, and rather emotional when the pictures of the devastation up north finally came in. Had it been only the earthquake, there would have been a great deal of destruction, but it was the tsunami that increased the magnitude of the disaster many times. Anyone trapped or unable to get out of its wake was certainly dead. It would also knock out the cooling to the Fukushima nuclear facility, but knowledge of this wasn't out yet. As much as I still despise Facebook for its use of users' private information, I was amazed by how important it was in a disaster like this to confirm the safety of everyone in Japan, as well as assure others that I was alright myself as well.
This was one of the biggest and most memorable days in Japan, and I was personally extremely lucky to be almost completely unaffected by such a major disaster. I did not even lose a single friend that day. Others in Japan were not so lucky, many thousands died, and hundreds of thousands more are without
ABC News Before and After Pictures of the Tsunami Area
This link gives a sliding before and after overview shot of the devastation done by the tsunami alone. I highly recommend taking a look. The affect is quite eerie, and covers a very large area.
"Happy wishes and thoughts of Japan" do not assist people hungry and without a house, many who have lost family and friends. Taking action, even a small amount, DOES have a direct impact on the well-being of others. Please take a look at the donation links below and consider doing what you can, however small, to help.Many have donated, but a month after the disaster it is clear that the repair efforts, medical needs, and immediate shelter situation is still in need of a great deal of help. The following are a few links for donating money or blood. Every just a small bit truly does help.
American Red Cross donation for JapanSelect the button for Japan to donate to efforts in Japan
American Red Cross Blood donation informationWhere to get information for donating blood for those in the US
Letters to TohokuA project started by a friend in the Student Body Government here at the University of Tokyo. Write a letter that will be distributed within the disaster areas, and sales from resulting book of the project will go 100% towards aid efforts.
Donate Via iTunesFor US account holders
Donation information of various pages on Yahoo NewsA very good collection of a variety of ways to help and donate that was posted on Yahoo news. Has more options for organizations that are available and assisting Japan.
Thanks to everyone who has, and will, help in some way.
The next blog post will be video blog post specifically aimed at
those donating blood, or wishing to, in Japan and the experience of what it is like. Information will be included about requirements and locations.
-Brian Berry
I’ve been planning on posting a video about the experience of giving blood in Japan for a while now.
