TOKYO -- This is just my personal account of the earthquake from Tokyo; Friday's earthquake struck in Sendai, but while the earthquake wasn't centered here, it was large enough even here to cause a lot of destruction.
I didn't feel the earthquake on Wednesday, but I did feel the 6.1-magnitude tremor on Thursday morning. I was under my desk, terrified and talking to my friend one floor above me on the phone, begging her to do the impossible and make the quake end. That was a 6.1 and it was one of the most frightening days of my life. I never knew the floor could move around so much.
When I was chatting online on Friday, sitting again in my Tokyo dorm room, I felt another one start. It felt small, so I just cursed in my chat conversation and mentioned that we were having an earthquake again. Then I got under the desk. That's what I do, even if it's small.
Within moments, the shaking grew worse than any I'd felt in my life.
I live on the eighth floor of a building in Shinjuku, one of the most popular and central areas of Tokyo. The room felt like it was violently swaying around and around in circles. The desk I was hiding under started to slide away, so I grabbed it and tried, unsuccessfully, to pull it back toward me.
At one point, I couldn't focus on what was happening around me anymore because of how bad it was getting. My drawers were opening, vases were flying of the shelves, my balcony door swung open, and things were falling from the wall.
I honestly thought the building was going to collapse.
If you couldn't see it, you could definitely feel it. If you couldn't feel it, you could hear it. I knew the desk would hardly keep me safe if the building did actually collapse, but it'd be a better bet, I thought, than trying to run down eight flights of stairs or being anywhere else in my room or on the floor.
I gave up wishing for it to end and just started counting.
It kept going, and I kept counting.
As I counted the numbers 97, 98, 99, and then 100, I slowed down, my voice cracked, and I heaved a shaky sigh, as the ground's movement started to subside. This surprised me, but my feelings were a mixture of thanks and uncontrollable terror.
An announcement came on, broadcasting throughout the dorm in Japanese, telling us to make our way to the stairs, but to not use the elevators, as they had been automatically turned off.
I grabbed my coat and phone, shaking from head to toe the entire time, and headed to the stairs.
When I got outside, many people from the various dorm buildings were out there, including those at the office. Not everyone was there, though. From my program, only one other guy was there. We waited for a long time, but when it finally seemed safer, I went back inside to knock on my friends' doors.
I got to one room, where my friend Dee was on Skype with a friend from the floor above me. They had been Skyping before the earthquake started, and had been online with each other through the whole affair. They didn't understand the Japanese announcement, though, and hadn't left.
I convinced Dee to leave, especially when a small aftershock hit. The aftershock kicked our other friend into gear, too, and she ran downstairs after us.
We were happy to get outside after that, as another aftershock hit that was much larger than the one we'd felt while we were indoors. We were all herded to a little circular courtyard area as the buildings around us visibly and audibly began to shake and sway dramatically.
We've been getting hit by aftershocks a lot since then, and they've warned us about the possibility of large aftershocks and tremors continuing even well into Saturday. We've also received many alerts on our phones warning of us aftershocks that have hit elsewhere and that may lead to potential shakes nearer us.
The main earthquake struck at 2:46 p.m. off the northeast coast of Japan.
When the trains stopped, people just walked
The trains all stopped when the earthquake hit. A friend of ours was coming from the neighboring town of Yokohama to meet us for karaoke and ended up stuck on the train for more than an hour, then in a station for another hour. He eventually had to walk home.
Trains are probably the most common form of transportation here, and the streets on Friday were filled with people walking to their homes or some other shelter. This particular friend told us that the walk home would likely take a few hours.
Another friend was in Ikebukuro when her train stopped. They brought everyone into Sunshine City (a large shopping center in Ikebukuro) because it was supposed to be safer.
This friend saw the signs on the Japanese chain store Don Quixote come detached and fall.
Thousands are stranded, and the airports are a mess
As far as Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea are concerned, the parks were shut down immediately after the quake, but park guests were apparently kept inside for safety. The Tokyo Disney Resort parking lot was flooded, but as a result of the parks being built atop landfills in Tokyo Bay, not because of tsunamis.
Thousands were given shelter and supplies as they spent the night in the Tokyo Disneyland Resort, stranded there.
Others with whom I'm in contact were on the 45th floor of Tokyo Tower when the earthquake struck.
In addition, airports were a mess. One person we know was supposed to meet her family at Haneda Airport. They landed after the quake struck, but there was no way for her to meet them until Saturday morning. Another friend was expecting to pick up her friend from Narita Airport on Friday evening, but has not been able to even get into contact with said friend.
Finally, others returned from Shinjuku on Friday evening when the trains were still stopped. There, she said people were crowding the streets, children were crying, and people were camping out like refugees.
Those who did not walk home were forced to either face deadlock traffic in certain areas if they could find someone willing to give them a ride, catch a taxi, or walk home (like our previously mentioned friend who we initially planned to meet on Friday evening). Those who decided to wait it out had to stay at or near stations until the early morning hours in some cases before they could get a train home.
Tsunami warnings were issued all down the coast of Japan, and many tsunamis hit by Friday night. More than 50 countries apparently issued tsunami alerts.
According to the Times, at least 18 people have been killed (12 confirmed dead as of 7:10 p.m. local time, according to Japanese State television, with more people missing and assumed dead), a hotel collapsed in Sendai, millions of homes have been left without power and fires are consuming many areas.
From various reports, I've heard that this has been the most powerful quake to hit Japan in recorded history (CNN), as well as being the fifth largest magnitude earthquake since 1900. LINK
Kyle Greggory moved to Tokyo in September 2010 and is spending one year there pursuing educational interests that include Japanese culture and Asian religions.
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