Earthquake 3/11/11

Last Friday I picked Katie up from school like any other day from the ELC. It was nice out so we headed to the park next to her school so she could play for a bit. At 2:45 the ground started shaking. Katie was walking up the stairs from the slide she loves and I called to her to come to me. There were many other moms and kids on the playground at that time so we basically huddled together for safety. This quake was recorded as an 8.9-largest in over 100 years. Katie was anxious to play so she wanted to go back on the playground again. She was playing on another slide when the second quake started. This one really scared me. It was only about a 7 this time. I could look up and see Mori tower swaying. At this point the hotel next door had evacuated its personnel to the park area. There were announcements in Japanese telling people to get to higher ground. Needless to say, we stayed there another hour and then decided to walk home to check for any damage. On a television screen was showing the tsunami wave that was heading towards the coast of Japan. It was too much for me to stand with the others and watch. Terrifying. Once we got home, everything was relatively intact. Some things had tumbled over but there was no broken glass and nothing really broken at all in the apartment thankfully. Katie and I hung out in the kitchen for a wall next to an interior wall as there were several aftershocks happening intermittently. She was pretty unphased by it all but it didn't set well with me! I decided to walk across to my neighbor's to hang out and make sure they were all doing ok. Thankfully she was with her girls and they were all ok. The phone lines were all down right after the quake but Tim and I were able to email one another on our iphones and find out that we were both ok. He had to hide under his desk at work. He emailed me that he would get home as quickly as possible. Thankfully that day he was in the Yoga office and was able to get a car to drive him home by 6:00. Trevor was at school when it happened. They held them there until about 5pm to ensure that the roads were safe for travel. Needless to say we could not communicate with one another as his phone was not working so I did not know how he was doing/feeling until about 11:30 that night. Through facebook a friend was posting the middle school kids statuses so I knew he was on the bus heading home and ok. They were able to stop for some snacks but didn't have any real food. He finally arrived home safely at 12:08am and he was very hungry but in good spirits all things considered. Kyle had been picked up by a friend earlier that day for a sleepover. Needless to say I could not get in contact with the other mom due to phone lines being down so I didn't get to talk to him until 1:30am. They had been stuck in traffic after the quake, ran out of gas, and had to walk home about 30 minutes. The streets were all extremely crowded with people walking, taxis everyone, and cars making for tons of traffic. I walked to the corner Sunkus and the shelves were completely empty. Afterwards, the aftershocks continued for days. We woke up one morning at 5am with the bed shaking and the doors rattling. Both boys woke up and came into our room. Katie slept through it all. We had our earthquake kit ready for blackouts and water shortages but didn't really have to use it. With conditions worsening in Tokyo with nuclear reactors, etc. school was closed for the week. We decided to take our Spring Break trip to Thailand a few days early. We were scheduled to leave 12:30am Tuesday night. While in the airport, another aftershock shook the terminal. Needless to say, we were ready to leave! Sadly, the tsunami took out many different towns. The destruction is devastating to see. We were all very blessed and spared so much but there were many who are not as fortunate. Most of the expats I know in Tokyo evacuated to various places that week. It is easily the most stressful thing that I have personally endured. Being in a foreign country during a natural disaster decreases your level of control and certainty. There were many government announcements being made at various times and we had no idea what they were saying.