Napping through my first earthquake
I had not as much sleep as I would have liked the night before, and I was getting a little rest on the tatami mat when Juri startled me, “Mike, get up, earthquake.” I sat up a little confused. An earthquake? I didn’t feel anything at all. I think I had just started drifting off. She said “Maybe I’m wrong, it could have been wind. They usually put a notice on TV when this happens.”
Sure enough, a moment went by and then the indicator popped up on their TV. A 4.2 quake registered in Chiba, which is the prefecture where Narita Airport is located. Here in Kanagawa, the shockwave amounted to somewhere in the 3’s. Wow, Juri felt that. Her dad didn’t, and he was standing up in the next room over. Perhaps he was distracted talking to a client. Finally up and awake, I scanned the animal hospital where we were spending the afternoon. I found myself looking for the most sturdy location in the walls and ceiling. “This spot looks good. Wait, no it’s too close to the windows there. I don’t want them to shatter all over me.”
Juri was sensing my calculated concern. I thought about grabbing a lawn chair and just sitting in the middle of the nearest empty field with a pitcher of tea and a magazine. She insisted I not worry, but didn’t give any particular reasons why I shouldn’t. I kept thinking we’d get hit again soon. Perhaps one of the earths plates was just shaking loose and the big one was coming. For a moment I thought what it must be like to live like this. I come from the Midwest where the ground has been pretty dependable.. I felt this sense of impermanence about the world for a moment. I then wondered if anyone here does live in fear every day of quakes, wound up like a spring day and night. I haven’t met anyone like that, but in a world where hundreds or thousands of people become addicted to online gaming and more than that are hypochondriacs, there must be a portion of people absolutely terrified of quakes.
Two years ago, my last visit to Japan, Juri and I prepared ourselves for an earthquake. We took the earthquake safety training simulation at the emergency center in her town. It was actually more just for a sightseeing fun thing to do at the time. The quake simulation created by a machine in the fake kitchen setting was pretty intense as I recall. Of course we laughed and cheered performing all of the quake safety shutoff procedures, but the whole time during that simulation I thought, “God I hope this never actually happens to me.” The shakes were actually intense in the simulation.
June 23, 2007 at 1:45 pm | Japan | No comment
