Earthquake, Tsunami & Nuke Refugees

Well, in a manner of speaking, yes. Of course, not even a smidgen of the pain, misery and upheaval that the poor souls of Tohoku have gone thru and are still going thru, but at least I've got your attention.

"Ganbare Nihon!"

Most of the "audience" for this blog is family and everyone in that category is pretty aware of our situation at the moment. However, there are lots of friends who may be wondering what the hell happened. So, I am here to update you.

On March 11th, at 2:45pm, Japan was hit by one of the largest earthquakes in history. The tsunami that resulted and the on-going nuke crisis has made enough headlines so that I doubt there's anyone in the dark about that. On that particular day, I was in my office at the jr. high school. Ericka and the girls were (luckily) outdoors at a park. Ericka had just picked Miki up from school and they were "having a play" when you know what rattled the globe.

Back in my office, it took a few seconds for me to realize that we were experiencing an earthquake. For those of you familiar with earthquakes, you hear them almost always before you feel them and the same was true for me on this day. When the various rattlings in the office didn't stop after 30 seconds or so (a loooong time when talking about earthquakes, believe me) I decided to stop what I was doing and reach for our standard-issue emergency hard-hats. By the time it took for me to make that decision and actually grab the helmet and put it on my head, the shaking intensified tremendously. By now, a bit more than a minute had passed and the large, concrete building in which I worked literally "groaned". I don't know how else to describe it. At that moment only one other colleague was in the office with me and we looked at each other and ran for the door.

The jr. high school where I used to work (I've since been promoted to a University position, but that's another story) is actually 2 buildings connected by an enclosed, steel & glass "sky bridge". The exit I came out of (my office was on the ground floor) was immediately beneath said sky bridge and I will never forget how it "convulsed" and rattled. I remember watching it for a few brief seconds and thinking, 'Wow, that thing is not the least bit flexible'. Unfortunately at that moment, passing beneath the rigid, clanking structure was the quickest path to safety, clear of the bricks, glass and any other debris that might decide to come down. I took a breath and bolted under it and beyond into our school courtyard. Not the brightest thing to have done in hindsight, but it's pretty amazing how fast you can run in certain situations. Even for someone like me who only runs if chased.

So now, I would guess about 2 - 2.5 minutes had passed and here I stood in the brick courtyard, trying to calm down and focus. It was only after I stopped running and came to a stop did I realize that the intensity had increased further so that it was actually hard to stand up. The ground and everything in my immediate line of sight undulated. A few cars were parked in the courtyard where I stood and the rear of the smaller ones bounced. With all the movement, shaking and noise, it was easy to visualize the "ripples" charging thru the earth I stood on. Absolutely surreal. I will never forget the sights nor the sensations.

Anyway, our school evacuation protocol taught us to gather on the large sports field for just such emergencies so that's where I and dozens of others started to run to. I should note that on March 11th there were, relative to a "normal" school day, very few students on campus. There were in fact no classes at the elementary school, the jr. high or the high school that day. Thank you for small favors. By the time I reached the sports ground and found groups of colleagues and friends wandering around in disbelief, a full 4 - 4.5 minutes had passed and only then did that initial quake beging to subside. Not only was it massively severe, but it had a frightening duration. All cellphone reception was down. It was quite chilly that day and for a while nobody knew what to do.

At any rate, about 2.5 hours after the earthquake hit, I told my supervisor I was riding my bike home to check on my family. ALL train lines in Tokyo and beyond that day came to a screeching halt and did not resume service until the next day. Chalk-up another benefit to living close to your place of employment.

When I got home I found Ericka and girls in their bicycle helmets locking the apartment door and heading downstairs. Nobody wanted to be inside that night. Thankfully, all of us were safe. We walked to the corner grocery store, got some food (and beer) and then returned to our apartment to check on friends. It was only later that night that we heard about the tsunami and the horrific video footage that accompanied it. As for the nuclear crisis, that didn't become apparent until the next morning. That night we all stayed dressed in our street clothes. I think Ericka and I got about 3 hours sleep.

So, the conclusion: As the nuclear nightmare began to grow and feed off the frenzy over the next couple of days, we bought plane tickets for San Francisco and flew out of Tokyo at midnight on March 17th. We spent about a week with relatives and friends in San Francisco, watching the situation from afar, waiting and pondering. When it didn't look like promising the decision was made to fly Ericka and the girls to Vermont to stay with the grandparents. I stayed behind in California for a few more days and mulled my options. As I mentioned above, I was recently promoted, and since my University was sticking to their original Spring Semester schedule, I had a tough choice to make. On March 30th I flew out of San Francisco back to Tokyo. I arrived on the afternoon of March 31st and began work the next day on April 1st.

And here I am now. The family are still in Vermont, all is well with them. My job is going great and the nuclear situation has not worsened for residents of Tokyo. It is lonely, to be sure, but Ericka and I both know that, for now, this is the best arrangement. I have the month of August off and I will fly back east to see them. At that time Ericka and I will reassess the situation and make another decision for the fall. I am obligated to serve out my academic year and if I must return alone in September, I am prepared to.

I can't thank my mom and dad, Mel and Greg, Uncle Junior and George, Liz and Jan enough for their support, love and gracious hospitality to my family and I at this time in our lives. It has been traumatic for all of us and without our families it would have been near impossible to come thru unscathed. Thank you all, we love you.

I will keep you posted...