As a follow up to my compendium of Quake related tweets last week, here are just a few of the Facebook updates from the week after March 11th. I haven’t included most of the threads which some of these spawned, or were a part of.
March 11 at 7:19pm
Wow. Massive earthquakes earlier today. I’m making my way to a friend’s place and home from there soon as I can. Trains stopped till tomorrow it seems. Family OK. Scariest. Thing. Ever.
March 11 at 7:44pm
40 quakes over 6.0 today. Unbelievable – looked out of the office window earlier to see a gas/oil refinery explode with a huge fireball into the sky in the distance as the building shook. Looking at photos now it feels unreal.
March 12 at 5:40am
Ohayo. Another dawn and it feels good. Goal #1 is still getting home to the family.
March 12 at 7:16am
Yesterday earthquakes tossed Japan around like a rag doll, and it continues today – I don’t see Japan backing down. Good luck to all the emergency teams working the Fukushima nuclear reactor.
March 12 at 10:40am
Back home with the family, and very happy about it. Lots of hugging. It’s pretty calm out here, no damage I could see, people doing normal shopping and such. The Shonan Vibe in action. Probably wont be down the beach for a while.
March 12 at 11:05am
I’m sure my wife looks even more beautiful than yesterday, and she makes a great cup of tea. Kids are fine. We’re already prepping for further disruption – no fat lady singing just yet.
March 12 at 5:14pm
Now up to 217 earthquakes in a week. For those who didn’t know, there was a 7.2 last Wednesday too. We’re packing emergency bags near the entrance, and trying not to let the kids know there’s anything up.
March 13 at 8:49am
Good morning all. Managed a few hours sleep as the place continued to sway a little. Now up to 293 earthquakes this week around Japan. I’ll be going out in a little while to get some more food and such and see how it goes.
Please note that I have plenty of tea, so no immediate emergency here.
March 13 at 9:12am
It’s almost funny to hear ‘experts’ criticizing the JP govt.. I’m not a fan usually, but 298 quakes now in 72 hours plus massive tsunami and a questionable nuclear plant. Was that in your clever computer models? Give them a break for a little while longer.
The people of Japan aren’t quitting either, they’re helping each other and staying calm and getting down to business.
March 14 at 7:29pm
Well, power has stayed on here – we’re wrapped up in one room to use as little as possible though.
As I said before, this thing just doesn’t seem to stop, but on the other side, there’s just no sign of the people of Japan backing down let alone giving up – incredible civility and fortitude.
All the best to the men and women at the Fukushima reactors – those people are risking their lives to save millions.
March 15 at 5:15pm
No power here now, so there’s a record number of us in the park whilst there’s daylight.
March 15 at 9:56pm
I think I re-learned more Japanese in those 90 minutes than the last 6 months. Good people. Nice kids. People were joking that maybe I came to the wrong country. I told them I loved ramen too much to leave.
March 15 at 10:00pm
So we survived the power outage OK – about 3 hours of it. We were under blankets and had a few candles lit. I had the laptop running to let my 4 year old watch Pocoyo, though my 4month old liked it too.
After the power came back on I explained to a couple of people how to reset their internet routers as some had locked up. Things looking quiet here.
March 15 at 10:37pm
M6 in Shizuoka – shook the whole place pretty badly. We’re OK. I think I set a new record for getting the baby and running downstairs and getting under the table.
March 16 at 2:29am
Just finished answering some questions on a BBC World Q&A programme. I think I managed to get across that the Japanese are just getting on with it.
March 17 at 10:41pm
Wife has brought me to Osaka, so I’ll be working on our Osaka News Bureaus and soon I’ll have my wife n 2 small kids in the UK if I can. I’m staying in Japan. I’d actually like to go back to Kanagawa soon. Japan has been good to me, I’d like to be good to it.
March 18 at 5:36am
I’ll leave I think when my government or my company absolutely tell me I should leave as I’m more of a burden than a help. The millions of Japanese do not have these options, and it seems wrong to leave until this point. I think there’s still time.
March 18 at 8:17am
Thanks to those who’ve commented. This isn’t some irrational bravado – where I am is perfectly safe, and I 100% believe Kanagawa is safe too, and of course so does the UK embassy as of yesterday when I spoke to the Consulate General.
However, I still do not think I should leave right now. Many foreigners ran from last Friday – those with kids I understand, some were just plain scared, and that’s fine too, because for a few hours on 20F shaking n rolling I was scared too.
However, I see the Japanese holding their ground, doctors heading to the scene from all over the country (including now foreign doctors), the men & women of Fukushima sacrificing their health and possibly their lives.
And people think I should flee a safe area? Again, until the embassy or Japan tells me it’s time to go, I’d like to stay.
March 19 at 6:22am
I think your family is perfectly safe right now, Nat-chan. I don’t think things are getting worse at the moment, though ‘normal’ is a ways off yet, and it all depends on that pesky reactor.
Let’s not also forget in our fear of that thing, the tragedy of those lost and missing in Fukushima from the quake and that tsunami. The whole area needs help.
I’m also pleased to say Japanese colleagues looked reassured when they saw myself and an Australian colleague in Osaka yesterday that neither of us had left Japan – in my Tokyo team of 5, only one left, and he’s due back next week.
Don’t watch too much TV 🙂
March 18 at 10:51pm
Is it really only a week since I was walking through the streets of Tokyo with thousands of others, everyone just trying to comprehend the scale of the event as we made long trips home? And that was before most of us knew that we’d still have to await the fate of the reactor. Feels like months.