Life in Japan got interesting really fast on Friday, March 11th a little after 2:30 in the afternoon. A 9.0 earthquake rocked the east coast of Honshu island, the largest and main island of Japan. The epicenter was closest to Sendai, which is about 3 hours south of where I live in Misawa. Needless to say, the earth was really moving! After living in the ring of fire for the last 6 years, I was hesitant to get up since I was sitting on the couch eating my lunch. However, the shaking kept going and growing! I grabbed the tortoise and dogs and went outside. I had to lean on the fence because the swaying was really making it hard to stand. Everything was moving pretty violently outside too. The cars at the dealership next door were literally bouncing around the parking lot!! Once the shaking seemed to stop we made our way back inside, as it was VERY cold out. We discovered the power had gone out, so I pulled out the iphone and tried to call Scott to let him know we were okay. Phone lines were down as well. So, I got on facebook since 3G was still up and running! I put out a post that I was ok, but then I started looking on Twitter for news updates. I learned about the tsunami warning and kept up to date on what was going on. I hated that I had no way to talk to Scott. Aftershocks started almost immediately and some were REALLY large. Scott was finally home around 4:30 and let us know how things on base were fairing. We figured power wouldn't be on for a while so we pulled out the candles and flashlights. By now we started hearing reports on the tsunami and all of the devastation it caused around Sendai and Fukushima. Not to mention the smaller coastal towns, many that we have visited and loved, were completely wiped out. Reports of 18,000 missing. Coastal trains were swept out to sea. Whole families gone. Wow. The people and country that we have grown to love, the place we have called home for over 3 years is just wiped out.
So, to deal with the power outage and freezing cold we bundled up with friends and bunkered down in the house. Saturday morning we made our way to base to get a few supplies - needed water for the dogs! We had enough for us, but we can't leave the boys without water!!! Anywho, we picked up a few things and socialized with others - really helped deal with what was going on! Plus it was good to see everyone and know they were okay! Our iphone 3G service went down late Friday night, so we had no form of communication at this point. It was really hard to not have a way to call home and let my mom know I was alive and safe. Oh, and the aftershocks were still really coming in and strong at this point. We heard from base leadership about what was going on with power, phones, water, gas, and basically what the emergency plan was! We were very glad to hear that all Honshu bases had 100% active duty and family member accountability. That meant all of our friends were safe, whether we had heard from them or not. Our mamasan stopped by to make sure we were fairing well, she is so sweet and we love her so much! The Japanese have really taught us how to stay calm in the face of a crisis, we ended up just spending time with our friends and neighbors to stay warm and keep the mood light. Power was eventually restored on Sunday around noon. Base didn't have power yet, but they were working hard to get everyone back up and running. Out in town we were lucky with electric, and we got on the phone right away to call the folks. Our friends called home after us! We were finally able to get online and see some of the videos of what had happened. It was so scary! Towns 15 mins south of us were just flooded by the wave, boats were scattered across the pier! The images really hit hard, being in the dark also meant the reports were just speculation... seeing the devastation made it real. And we found out our own Misawa port had been pretty messed up too. Luckily, no body in Misawa was killed or injured. The urge to help spiked, we were ready to go into action. Well, Melanie J. and I were at least!
So, Misawa Air Base proved there are still good hearted Americans. The donation collection and volunteer cleanups kicked off ASAP. US AID and Foreign Search and Rescue Teams showed up from around the world and the save the day spirit spread. Of course there were the annoying woo is me complainers, we will never be free of those. Good word came when we found out they would be doing a voluntary departure for those family members who felt unsafe here. I completely agree that the people who had traumatized children or anyone with medical conditions needed to get out, plus it would help with supply issues... but people were going a little overboard with the "I wants"... I want money, per diem, rental cars, hotels, etc... GO HOME AND QUIT COMPLAINING! The departure process was insane! Very crazy with psycho people running around and not knowing what they were doing. We were in no real danger, but they acted like the sky was falling. Made me laugh. Quite a few of my good friends left, and I felt bad for them since they had to deal with the crazies :) I opted not to go. My carbon footprint is very small. I can't bring the dogs back to Japan after the departure ends due to the quarantine issues. And I can help. The whole not having a job situation means I have time to donate to very strenuous and demanding manual labor. So, my life over the last two weeks has been very up and down, not to mention side to side with all the quakes! I have been getting a great workout and it has been emotionally healing to get my hands busy cleaning up with my Japanese friends.
I love this country. I love these people. I wish I could take the pain and devastation away. I am glad I am here to experience first hand how awesome the Japanese are, no looting, no violence. The people have helped each other, shared what little they have to make sure everyone has something! The world should take notes, in the face of complete disaster - THIS IS HOW YOU BEHAVE! So, before I get off my soapbox - please help Japan. Send what you can, donate what you can. ShelterBox and Japanese Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support are two of my favorite groups that were boots on ground within 24 hours.
