Alive from Tokyo, some thoughts from a friend about this earthquake experience

Want to know about the Japan earthquake? Then go away! Leave me alone.

No, seriously, my friend Paul and his family went through it yesterday. Paul and I attended college journalism classes together eons ago. He now lives near Tokyo. I thought he had some interesting takes about getting bounced around like human popcorn and he has been kind enough to share some of his quake thoughts with the blog. Full disclosure, Paul has done quite a lot to move the blog forward somewhat. That it hasn’t moved much since then is my fault. But, let us not speak of faults right now since we are talking earthquakes.

Paul: “I’m a mostly-retired adrenaline junkie and I usually get a kick out of small earthquakes. But into the first minute of yesterday’s quake I started thinking let me off this ride. We live in an older house, so I usually think we are getting more shake, rattle, and roll anyway. Even from upstairs to downstairs there is a big difference.”

I’ve been through tornadoes and hurricanes, but no earthquakes. I have seen earthquake videos of what seems like very quick events and just as quickly, they are over. But just as I imagine, a description such as Paul’s seems to make the quakes crawl as in slow motion:

Paul: “The books started flying of the shelves, and the hanging pots and pans banged out a tune. Our sliding front door slid open, desk drawers shimmied opened, and a child from a neighbor’s house had had enough and let loose a wail. I started thinking our house looks like the set for ‘Poltergeist.’ “

Was the ghost of Richard Brautigan flying somewhere around Paul? I wonder with my friend’s most logical quest for some rum.

Paul: “After it stopped I ducked outside for a bit. A lot of people were outside chatting it up. There were no signs of an earthquake. Off to the supermarket for rum. They had already put all the glass goods on the floor in shopping baskets. The aftershocks had started, but you can hardly feel them outside. I hadn’t opened the rum yet … but that is what I figure it feels like — rum legs.”

Paul and his wife, Mika, have the advantage of living where earthquakes aren’t unique. But a quake of the magnitude that hit is hardly the same old, same old. For their kids at school when this happens, one can only imagine how they view the experience.

Paul: “Mika and I start talking about the kids. She wants to go to the school and pick them up. I think they are better off there. She points out that the kids will be afraid. She wins, we go.”

Once at the school, it isn’t as easy as Paul would wish to get the youngsters and go home.

Paul: “We are stuck in the quadrangle with the other parents. They school won’t release the kids because they are ‘safer inside’. As usual I start wondering who is in charge here? Give me my kids! It’s cold, and the after-shakes continue.. Emergency vehicles are all over the place, but still no signs of damage.

“I was getting really annoyed at the school. Face to face with the bureaucracy. I saw one mother go in and come out with her kid. What’s with that, I pointed out to Mika. But I know I can’t be a troublemaker here. But as I stand outside I wonder if the kids know I am here waiting. The announcement comes that they won’t release the kids as there are still aftershocks. No shit? The aftershocks are not going to stop, so what is the point? They start to look like dorks to me. Give me my kids! Mika tells me to relax. It is the system. Go with the flow.

“They finally release the kids and we decide sushi is proper quake food. Besides, McDonald’s is not serving french fries. Sorry Emma. No deep fat frying in an earthquake. We head home and turn on the TV — same as folks in Texas. Looks a lot worse than thought.”

Later on, Paul discovers the severity of his world versus the earthquake-riddled world of Japan both out and about, and in the quiet hours of the childrens’ slumber.

Paul: “It got dark, and I went out for a racing form. The streets were packed with people walking home. The entrance to the subway is closed. I get home and Mika tells me that the weekend races are cancelled. Wow … this is serious. We spent much of the night watching the news. The kids don’t want to sleep alone. They fear the top bunk bed is going to crash down on them. Mika and I win this round, besides, they have been nonchalant about the aftershocks for the past few hours. Kids do adapt quickly.”

The next morning, as is so often from a morning after a disaster, is this really all that bad?

Paul: “Woke up several times during the night to the sensation of gentle rolling. Back to my style of quake where nobody gets hurt. Early morning announcement over the public PA system to conserve electricity. News on, coffee on … breakfast cooking. Sure looks bad over there somewhere else. Not here. Once again. This all happened to somebody else. It will never happen to us — isn’t that the way it goes?

” I’m a trained journalist Dick … the first thing I did was turn on Facebook and typed ‘earthquake’. We hear there are power outages here and there in Tokyo. A nearby luxury apartment has no elevator service. 50 floors. Heh! Take that rich guy who lives in the nice apartment!

“Finally, as I said, outside it is all different as the aftershocks continue. You can feel them, but you have to pay attention. They ground is subtly swaying. You know in the house it would be magnified and rollicking. No aftershocks this morning.”

Paul replays the event in his head. As one with any modicum of sense might realize, it is not in our norm to process events such as what my friend has experienced, or Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike which I went through, and Hurricane Humberto, which I slept through.

Paul: “At first it’s ‘cool’. Then it’s “Whoa, this is kind of long!?” Then, “Is this it? Is this the big one? Is the house going to come down?” Then there is this dreadful sense of helplessness. What can I do here? Then it stops and you start nervously laughing.

“Weird.”

I thank my friend and fellow J-school grad, Paul, for his thoughts in the wake of this historic earthquake. We hope the “new normal” of the kind that emerges from such disasters will soon surface and a better day soon comes for those affected.