Earthquake Update 2

Hello again. You probably have heard by now, but we made it back to the US on Thursday morning. We were set up in temporary living and are now trying to put some order back into our lives.

Not sure if you are interested in my earthquake story. If so, read on... I am going to let the rest of the family write out their version if they want so this is from my experience only.

It was about 2:30 on Friday march 11th and we were finishing up an all-day event at work. We have flex time so it went through my head to try and sneak out at 3:00 since we were going to have business trip members in Japan for the next 4+ weeks. The days were going to get long. I was finishing up some e-mails in the meeting area (open area with long tables). At about 2:45, it started. We had a 6+ magnitude earlier in the week and this felt similar at first. I saw someone push a flatscreen monitor further onto the table and I noticed ours was also working its way to the edge of the table. I walked over to push it back on and I was told to get under the table. I got under the table as the quake really started to get bad.

There were three of us under the table. The building started to shake and sway violently. We slid along the floor with the table which kept us protected. I remember telling myself that this was unbelievable, but I was ready for it to stop. I thought to myself "I hope the ceiling, roof and floor holds up" as the ceiling started to fall. I looked over at the other two Japanese associates under the table with me. The look on their faces told me that this was the "one". It wasn't until I saw the terror in their faces that I really started to get worried. At that point, an industrial air conditioner came down beside me. It stopped about a foot from the floor hanging by wires. During all of this, we were sliding about 2-3 feet along the floor. Then it slowed down.

We were located near the emergency exits so we climbed through the debris and down the fire escape. The whole time, we could feel the earthquake still shaking. We assembled by departments so role call could be taken. We were right outside the building and the aftershocks started. For safety reasons, we moved from the building area back to the soccer field area. We stayed there until about 4:30. The sun went down and the temperature dropped significantly. We were hearing rumors of the 10 meter (30 foot) tsunami that hit Sendai.

The phones did not work so we were not able to check with our families to see if things were OK. They started taking people by department to go back into the building to get their belongings out of the locker room. I made it in by about 6:00. My friend had a much longer commute than I did so I let him take my bicycle so he could get home quickly. The roads were essentially parking lots.

After I grabbed my personal cell phone, clothes and coat, I went back outside the building and put them on over my uniform. I checked to see if the buses were running to the house, but they were only going into the city so I started walking. It was about 6:30 PM.

The road I rode to work on was fairly empty but I soon caught up to the cars. I actually was able to walk faster than the traffic. Keeping track of the cars helped occupy my thoughts as I walked the 3.5 miles home. When I got to the house, I slipped on something in the yard. There was no power so there were no lights. I figured out that our roof had sustained a lot of damage. There was a note on the door, but I could not read it. Then one of the neighbors came up and told me that the family was at the Fukami's house. It was such a relief.

I started walking toward the Fukami's house. I was the last to arrive so the family was pretty worried about me. They were cooking ramen noodles and I was able to eat a little bit even though I didn't feel much like eating. Denny was falling asleep sitting up so we decided to go back toward the house. We were told that we should stay outside until the damage could be assessed so we stayed the night in the car. We felt aftershock after aftershock. It seemed like they happened every 10 minutes or so. Couple that with sleeping in a car and you can imagine we were pretty tired the next day.

We woke up with the sun at about 5:30 - 6:00 AM. Several of our friends were making a curry breakfast and we were invited. After eating, we returned to the house and tried to clean up. I worked on moving tiles and Elin worked on the kitchen. Later, we returned to the Fukami's house for a BBQ. The power and water were still out so we were using up what we had in our freezers. We ended up sleeping in the front room of the house. We were urged to not sleep there, but weren't sure why... We knew we had damage to the house, but we assumed everyone had the same problems, but we were wrong. Again, we spent a restless night with many aftershocks.

We promised to make everyone pancakes the next morning. Everyone showed up around 10:00. Elin and I were already trying to finish cleaning up. My friends gathered tarps and tried to patch up the roof since rain was in the forecast. Unfortunately, we could not get to the second level of the roof. Even if we could, there were not enough tarps. Everything was closed and there was no gasoline to go shopping around the city.

After we ate, we were told the local grocery store was bringing food outside and selling it. We stood in line for 2 hours to get anything we could. By the time we got an opportunity to 'shop', there was only bread, coke, tea and potato chips available. So we bought what we could. We returned home to continue with the clean-up. We received some bad news about our insurance only paying 50% of the value of the items lost and they urged us to get things out of the house. The Fukami family took us in. They had a playroom in their upstairs that they didn't use so we were able to "move in". Their house had no damage. I finally understood why they were concerned about us staying in our house. So, unfortunately, we had to make quick decisions on what to try to save before the rain arrived.

We spent Monday at the Fukami's house. We were following the nuclear reactor situation closely. We also were able to find three separate options for housing based on associates who had recently returned home after their assignments were over. If the power plant situation took a turn for the better, we seemed to have good prospects for housing. I believe on Monday, the evacuation area was a 10 km radius and they expanded the concern areas to a 20 km radius.

On Tuesday, we woke to find out that the radiation concern area was again expanded to 30 km. We were located about 150 km away so if you run the numbers, it seemed like we had to start thinking about moving further away. We started to receive calls about potentially returning to the US so we called our friends in Tokyo to see if we could stay with them for a few days. So, once again, we looked at our things and decided what we couldn't live without. We packed 2 suitcases and 4 backpacks and packed the car. Fukami san's family lives in the southern-most area of Japan. They also made the decision to pack up and go south as we were packing our things. Unfortunately, we had to say good-bye quickly and head out. We stopped to see the Mitani's on our way out. Toshi was at work, but Takako indicated that she was taking the kids to her family's house west of Utsunomiya. Again, we said our good-byes and headed out on the road. Leaving our friends behind was the hardest part of this whole experience.

Six hours later, we reached The Padget's house in Tokyo. We spent the night in their spare room. When we woke up on Wednesday, we were told that we were being pulled out of Japan. We were urged to move closer to the Haneda airport. We helped the Padgets pack up their bags and headed out on the train. We got to our hotel around dinner time on Wednesday. We reserved cabs to arrive at 4:00 AM since we were told that we would be on a 7:00 AM flight out. Of course, our rooms were on the 8th floor. We had another 6.0 magnitude earthquake that day and we were still having aftershocks. So, our first night in a bed in 5 nights was plagued with additional aftershocks. Being on the 8th floor only magnified the amount of sway and also magnified the amount of fear we had.

We received out wake-up call at 3:00 AM... packed our things... and headed to the airport. Every step seemed like a huge undertaking - make it through the night at the hotel, guarantee the cabs get there, make it to the airport, cross your fingers we had a seat on the flight and the plane takes off, hope the plane makes it there safely, hope the flight from Detroit makes it to Columbus safely... I just kept waiting for the next bad thing to happen. We had a lot of turbulence on the flight from Japan. It feels similar to an earthquake so it was near impossible to relax on the plane

Then, we were home. It seemed (and still does) like a dream. I think we are suffering from revers culture shock. Things here are so big and fast. The grocery stores are overwhelming. The highways are intimidating after a year of 20-30 mph driving. It's been a rough few days just being back. We have received some gifts, clothes and supplies from our friends. It is hard to accept things, but it has really reduced our stress levels to have clothes and toys for the kids as well as other supplies. We went food shopping yesterday so we are OK there as well. I start back to work tomorrow and we are going to see if Savannah can handle school. We stopped on Friday and her former classmates were ecstatic to see her. I think she will do well in school and it will be good for her to be with friends.

So... for the time being, we are back. We have to figure out what will happen in the future, but for now, we are stationed near Tuttle Mall in Columbus.