My first Earthquake Experience

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and say it right now, the title sounds a lot cooler than what you're actually gonna end up reading here. So please, go ahead and let the air out of the balloon right now.

Before coming to Japan, I had heard on the news, from Japanese people, professors, people that have been to Japan before, and so on and so forth, that Japan is an extremely volcanic country (in more ways than one~), and that earthquakes are frequent and sometimes extremely damaging. The news of the 2004 and 2007 Niigata Earthquakes help convince me that yes, Japan does seem to get hit by a lot of earthquakes.

However, I didn't really feel any sense of anxiety or terror about coming here. I actually kind of welcomed it. Earthquakes anyone? Sounds like a free ride at an amusement park. Obviously, I understand that earthquakes are pretty serious, and sometimes lethal, but still, I couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like.

Since we never have earthquakes in Toronto, my curiousity got the better of me, and I was starting to look forward to my first earthquake experience that I would inevitably get while in Japan.

Unfortunately, nothing really happened when I first got here.

After 3 months of little to no activity, I had completely forgotten about earthquakes and that I had been looking forward to experiencing an earthquake. Seriously, I'm in Miyagi prefecture, which isn't too far from Niigata, so I was thinking, maybe I would get hit by an earthquake sooner or later. Unfortunately, after 3 whole months, yes 90 freaking days, not a single earthquake (at least not any I could actually feel). Sometimes, I'd arrive at school, and the teachers would be talking about "yesterday's earthquake". What earthquake? I didn't feel anything. I started to wonder if this was just something Japanese people could sense. Having been living in a volcanic, earthquake ridden area for the past 2000 plus years, they've probably developed some kind of earthquake sensor that I wasn't able to tap into. Or perhaps I was just sleeping when it happened, or too drunk to notice. Still, I was surprised though, that after 3 months, still no earthquake. I had high hopes, and day by day they were being crushed.

Finally, almost exactly 3 months to the day of when I arrived in Japan, something happened!

It was a Wednesday, November 7th to be exact. School had ended, so I had come back to my apartment. A neighbour had also come over, and we probably were going to have dinner somewhere in the town. The weather had begun to get cold, so I had the kotatsu on, and a couple of heaters, and we were both sitting on the floor in the Japanese way (seriously my legs still go haywire when I sit on the floor too long. even Japanese style chairs" are really just cushions that let you sit on the floor more comfortably). As we were talking, suddenly, the ground shoke a little, kind of like a big fat guy running accross the porch. My neighbour suddenly started freaking out, but I had no idea what the big deal was. I asked her "what's wrong?" and she looked at me with fear in her eyes. Then the ground shook again, this time a little bit longer (longer as in 1.5389 miliseconds longer), and it hit me, this must be an "earthquake" that everyone's always talking about. I looked at her and asked her "is this an earthquake?", and she said "yes", and started looking aprehensive and about to go out of control. I tried to hold her down, and told her it was "okay". "It's just a tiny earthquake." But hey, what do I know? They've been experiencing earthquakes for a lot longer than I have. I can't help but wonder if most Japanese people have the same reactions as my neighbour did.

Apparently, there were times when she would run into the rice fields with her kids when there were earthquakes. I'm guessing this is what a lot of Japanese out her in the "jungle" do. I guess rice fields ARE the safest place, since there's no chance of a building falling on you. Living out in the winaka, there really aren't any tall structures around. There are houses with 2 stories and that's it. I live on the second floor though, so maybe it might be difficult for me to get down stairs and into the rice fields. I guess I'll just take the advice other people have given, - sip a cold beer and get under a table. OR, make a run for my school (which doubles as an earthquake shelter).

I'd have to say my first earthquake experience was not what I had expected. The entire ordeal lasted about 5 seconds, and the actual time of the ground shaking was probably closer to 3 or less. At first, it felt different, and even kind of cool, but it was too weak to really be enjoyed properly. It seriously felt like a kids ride at an amusement park that ends too fast. Probably the thing I'll remember most is the reaction I got from my neighbour. If Japanese people have been experiencing earthquakes for 2000 years and have that kind of reaction to a miniscule earthquake, then I can't imagine what's in store for me ahead.

The anticipation is making me drool.