Earthquake Diary 02

Saturday, March 12
Did not sleep well. The best metaphor that I can think of is that lying in the chair was like being on a boat that was floating in the ocean. There were constant small movements from the ripples and then every once in a while there would be a large movement because of the wake of a passing boat. The major difference would be that in the boat the movements would be smooth, almost sine waves, but in the chair it was a series of random, sharp movements.

We got  up with the sun and discovered that all the utilities were out. We have a portable gas stove which runs on cartridges and used it to make as much hot water as would fit in our thermoses. We ate and went out to find out what was happening.

Surprisingly, the men from the company that administers our buildings had come to work. There were also two construction worker types who were looking at and photographing the damage. We got more bottled water and then in mid morning, they discovered that one faucet on the outside of the admin building was still working and told everyone to bring bottles and take as much water as they could.

As I stood in line waiting to fill up the empty bottles that I had, I realized that with no water we would soon have a problem with the toilet. The obvious solution was to go to the river that is next to our complex and get a bucket of river water to use to flush the toilet. I may not have been the first one to think of this, but I was certainly the first to bring home water. Many of the neighbors asked why my wife and I were bringing water from the river, and when we told them, they went to find buckets.

I decided that I should go out exploring, so I set off with my camera. I went to Izumi Chuo, where there are a few large stores and the end-of-the-line subway station. Nothing had collapsed but there was a lot a damage. I found a sign that said that the department store planned on opening again on March 15. The station was completely closed up so I walked home again.

On my way home I passed the Coop supermarket where about 400 people were gathered in the parking lot. I found a sign that explained that they were selling things that they had brought out from inside the store. It also said that, if you really needed something that was not outside, one of the employees would go in and get it for you. I did not stop because of the length of the line.

When I got home, I found that some of our friends had come over to check on us. Before the quake they were supposed to come that afternoon for coffee and a chance to talk with my daughter. They were out in their car, so they decided to come and make sure that we were okay. They gave us part of a pack of diapers for Tomone.

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. We got organized, took an inventory of the supplies (we just had another fairly big aftershock while I was typing this) we had in the house, tried to get information, and managed to get in contact with some of our friends and relatives. The phones still did not work properly but email from the phones was getting through most of the time.

We cooked supper while the sun was still shining and went to bed not too long after the sun set. We had a number of candles so we had a little light, but decided that it would be better to sleep while it was dark than waste the candles on something unimportant. Also we were very, very tired. We again slept fully dressed, just in case a large aftershock forced us to go outdoors.

Just before putting out the candle, I heard on the radio that the magnitude of the earthquake had been upgraded to 8.0

I should probably point out that the first three days are pretty much of a daze. Everything just runs together in my mind and all of it seems like a bad dream.