earthquake
by mikka
above: a reporter wears a helmet shortly after the Shizuoka-based earthquake on Tuesday night.
We are all fine in Numazu, though everyone here is devastated by what's happening up north. On the Friday of the earthquake, Iain had just left for work and I was drying my hair, waiting for my sister's plane to land in a few hours. Iain, on his bike, barely felt the earthquake, though he noticed cars stopping and people clutching trees; in our apartment, I thought I was dizzy at first: the floor rolled rather than shook - everyone we talk to agrees, it felt like being on a boat, and it went on an incredibly a long time. Since then, things have been pretty subdued. Mostly we read the news obsessively and wait for power cuts (we've only had one so far). A few classes have been cancelled due to the limited train service, and the grocery stores are picked clean of batteries, rice and, bewilderingly, toilet paper; but otherwise life here over the last week was surreally normal in the wake of what's happening elsewhere in the country. My sister made it here, after a brief detour to Sapporo when her plane was diverted, and I feel terrible that people back home were worrying on both our accounts, but we really are fine, just horribly saddened by reading the news.
above: Tsunami warnings after the Sendai Earthquake on Friday.
So anyway, that's here; for anyone trying to keep on top of the news - there's always a bit of a time lapse between the news here and overseas - here are some things I've found helpful:
- A list of resources from another Shizuoka-based blog.
- The search for current news has made me a grudging user of Twitter for the first time ever. Steve Hernan and Matt Alt post updates frequently. You can also read the the tweets from the U.S. Ambassador, John Roos.
- Metropolis seems to be a really good source of updates on expat life, particularly for keeping tabs on the radiation levels in Tokyo.
- I really wanted to set up one of these on my blog, but, I'm tired and spacey and apparently incapable of doing it properly. So instead I'll just hot-link it the old fashioned way, and encourage you to consider making a donation towards the relief effort, with organizations like the my hometown's Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, or the American Red Cross or Global Giving.
