Life since the earthquake/tsunami 1-C

The experience of the days of the earthquake from our perspective in Mito

It was a Friday. Most people were at work. Teachers and students were in class. My school was lucky, because of a special schedule that day the students had gone home at 2:30. I had just made crepes with my 6th graders when they all hurried out to the playground for the school goodbye, before dispersing to go home. The kids gone, teachers went back to the teachers’ room or to their class room to clean up. At 2:40, the earthquake hit. We are used to decent sized earthquakes here, so at first we just looked at each other wondering how long it would last. When we realized it wasn’t stopping right away and that the shelves were shaking harder than usual, we unanimously decided to run outside. Now, they always say, if a disaster happens, leave everything and run. I’ve always said, if a disaster happens, I’ll grab my cell phone and run. Well, I forgot my cell phone. We all just ran outside and waited. We spent the next hour or two going back inside and running back out when a new one came. We stood out on the playground for about an hour with the after-school kids until we felt it was finally safe to go back inside. Some teachers drove around to make sure students got home safely. Other teachers searched the school for damage. All in all, the earthquake was big enough to be scary, but small enough to still be exciting. I would be lying if I said I didn’t think the experience was kind of cool. Our school didn’t incur too much real damage, so it was difficult for me to be in a state of emergency.

Even after leaving school and going home my feelings were more of excitement and wondering what work will be like on Monday. I hadn’t yet realized the extent of what had happened. Traffic lights were out. Some of the roads had cracks or had simply sunk in, creating huge bumps. When we got home we realized that water and electricity were out over a large area….we had no idea how large. We also learned a whole new way of interpreting the sentence “Our home is a mess!” But that was the extent of our worries.

We decided to drive around and check on some of our friends. Phones were still not working, so no matter how much we tried to call or message, we didn’t get through to anyone. We met up with Luke and Emily first. They joined us as we drove on to look for Chelsea and Kendon. We all got together and drove back to our place to keep each other company and try to share food for dinner. We wanted to drive around more to look for other people, but it was getting late and we needed to spare gas. So we just waited, and tried our phones every once in a while. During the course of the evening, more people made it to our place and we were able to enjoy good fellowship.

It wasn’t until later that evening that we realized how big this really was! Up until this point, it was just an earthquake that knocked out water and electricity. Then someone got a phone call from their mom. “Are you Ok? I’m seeing pictures of the tsunami and I’m worried!” We all just laughed. “What tsunami? We aren’t anywhere near a tsunami! We just had a big earthquake. That’s all.” Then we started hearing more about the tsunami and seeing pictures and videos on the news. That’s when we started realizing that this was bigger than ‘just an earthquake’.

That night, none of us got much sleep. Between the shakes of the earthquakes, the readiness to jump out of bed and run outside, the sweat from sleeping in my clothes, the constant sound of helicopters and ambulances and the worries of our large bookshelf falling on top of me, my dreams were laden with all of those same sounds and feelings, waking me up as often as possible.

Throughout that week, many things happened. People lined up at grocery stores and gas stations for hours. Food and gas were being tightly rationed. Little by little different parts of the area got electricity and water back. Some areas got utilities back within a day or two; some had to wait longer than a week. We started hearing more and more about the nuclear disaster and evacuations. All the while the victims of the tsunami were adding up to more and more missing and dead people.

Mito was still coping with the electricity, water, food and gas shortages in addition to damaged property. The world was worried about the radiation and watching the tsunami disaster. AETs in Mito and Mito church members were feeling torn between getting their life back on track, fleeing because of the radiation dangers, or planning how to get gas to drive up North with help.

Mito city, our school employers and our colleagues all did their best to not let the dangers and disaster further upset their lives. The last week of classes and graduation happened as planned in the elementary schools. By the time opening ceremony started a new year at the beginning of April, things were for the most part back to normal in Mito’s schools. Many gyms are still not safe to use, some schools could not have school lunch for a few weeks because the kitchens were not usable and school earthquake drills have a new meaning, but other than a few things, life is back on track here for the average person.