How many of you were here when the big quake of 2011 struck?

28 comments

1. Was on the 44th floor of an office building in Tokyo, sitting at my desk, coworker across from me. There was a jolt, like the building went over a speed bump, we looked at each other and paused for maybe 10 seconds then was like hmm, interesting, went back to work. About a minute later the whole building started leaning to the left and again we just looked at each other like “oh, guess it’s an earthquake” but it just kept leaning further and further, then we’re bracing against our desk to keep our chairs from rolling. I’m right next to the window and notice the blinds leaning on the glass.
   Right before I was about to panic, it really felt like the building was going over, we were forcefully flung back the other direction. Chairs went rolling across the room, some items on shelves and desk fell off and a few ceiling panels came down. Alarms went off, and the building started swaying hard.
   One thing I never thought about was how loud it would be, the screeching of the metal building rubbing, was very unnerving. Sounded like being on a large ship in a storm or something, hard to explain.
   After about 15 minutes we were instructed to grab our helmets and emergency packs and head to the core. They didn’t let us leave till around 10pm.

2. Sat at home, having a sandwich. Almost shit myself when it happened. Panicked a bit, forgot all the stuff I’d heard to do in those situations, rode it out, then finished my sandwich and went back on with my day. 

   Eventually thought to check the web for news and I finally realised its significance. Scary time. 

   The biggest difference to normal was how I could feel the building go up and down, not just side to side. 

   It led to an interesting few weeks with all the shortages and foreigners leaving town. 

3. Was at work. Watched all the news on the laptop while waiting for the tsunami warning to pass. After, I had to choose between staying at work for the night or walk 4h home. Chose the latter and got fairly drunk doing it. It was crazy the number of people walking – and the traffic was just madness. A few entrepreneurs were selling runners outside there shops which I really should have bought. My shoes were ruined. After checking for damages at home, of which there was luckily none, and since I knew I wasn’t working the next day, went to the local pub with my wife and her friend who crashed at our place.

4. I was out delivering flyers to mailboxes for a
   school I was teaching at.

   The earthquake hit so I went to then center of an intersection because there’s nothing that can fall on me.

   A bunch of Japanese women with their babies ran out of their houses and joined me after spotting me there.

   We waited it out.

   Tried to call my ex wife at the time but no phones were working. So I couldn’t contact her till the next day.

   Went back to my apartment and everything was destroyed.

   Then I heard about the tsunami.

5. I was a student at Tsukuba at the time. I lived in cheap dorms so I could always hear the earthquake ahead of the actual shaking(the shutters on the windows etc would shake before you could feel the quake). I remember hearing the shutters shake and thought it was just one of the many normal small earthquakes…then it started getting stronger and stronger and stronger. I remember thinking oh shit and ran down 4 flights of stairs faster than I had ever ran before. Got out of the building but with cell service effectively dead I didn’t know what to do so I rode my bicycle to my lab. My bicycle had fairly strong shocks so when one of the many aftershocks came I didn’t even notice it until my wheel started turning like I was riding on ice. Eventually made it to my lab and someone with a car drove us around looking for shops that were still open. We eventually found one and that was a surreal experience. The staff had been cleaning up the massive mess that was made and when they re-opened around 8 pm or so everyone rushed into the store, though this being Japan there wasn’t any pushing or hitting etc. We stocked up on what we could and went to my lab mates house to eat since nobody had electricity the refrigerated stuff wouldn’t last forever. It was then he discovered he locked his keys in his car. So we had to go back to the lab in complete darkness climbed 11 flights of stairs and fortunately the electronic lock defaulted into off when the power went out.

   The next day since I lacked power and water I decided to just wonder around. It was basically like the state of emergency that happened during COVID. Most places were closed except for a small vegetable stand and a pachinko parlor, you know, essentials. The trains didn’t run for a week, some people found taxis to get to Tokyo, but most just stayed put. The local 7/11 ran out of most food the first day, only having ice cream left(it was in March and quite cold) and by the next day even that was gone. They were still open though, the staff being nice and friendly even though the only things they had in stock was basically condoms and mustard. Food and water was rationed, water trucks would come by and if we brought our own bottle of at most 1 liter we could fill it up. I managed to find a few unpicked vending machines on campus and filled my coat with water bottles. When the local 100 yen shop got a shipment of water, ramen, and tea it was strictly rationed. You were allowed 2 ramens, 2 waters, and 1 tea. I hadn’t bathed since the quake since I didn’t want to spend my small water allotment on dumping it on myself. Finally 6 days after the quake the train services were partially restored. It was like a refugee situation with all those people flooding the station. The train stopped multiple times on the way to Akihabara because it lost power.

   TL;DR; even though Japan is great at responding to earthquakes it has limits. Make sure you have an emergency kit, not only food and water but a radio and battery backups to charge your phone. Even in places where there was very little physical damage like Tsukuba services can be down for prolonged periods of time.

6. I was in Donkihote of all places. The shop got destroyed twice. First the quake shook everything off the shelves – the alcohol section looked like a war zone. Next day the emergency hoarders had cleared the store out every kind of food and consumable. As I did a u-turn at the door I could see someone with three or four 24 packs of loo paper 🙄

   The truly eerie thing for me was 2 days later when the electricity emergency had been declared, visiting a convenience store lit solely by fridge lights and the cash registers. No overhead lighting at all. The street lights on the shopping street were mostly off as well. It felt very weird in central Tokyo.

7. The swaying that u/SufficientTangelo136 described is what I had in my dreams (nightmares?) for several months (maybe years) since. The recurring theme was me in a tall building, swaying to the point I could almost touch the ground only to be suddenly pulled back in the other direction.

   I was not as high up at the time of the quake. I think I was on the 8th or 9th floor of one of those buildings in Nihonbashi that have very high ceiling in the bottom floors, like shopping malls, so probably equivalent to a 14~15th. I had zero experience and preparation with quakes so when I saw someone going for the stairs in the middle of the first jolt I followed. Later I realized that people was shouting “don’t go” to us. As I got to the staircase I found a lady that was about to trip, grabbed her and went down the stairs with her wrapped around my arm. Half way through the descent the swaying started diminishing and my heartbeat rate started calming down too.

   Among other things that I remember: Indian colleagues praying, Japanese colleagues crying that it was the Great Kanto earthquake everyone was (is) expecting. Also, the noise from the metal structure of the building screeching, and the drywall panels in the emergency stairs moving and cracking.

   Once I got down and things were calm for a few minutes, I told a colleague who was going to stay that I was going home to my wife (7th month pregnant and in the shower in our apartment at the 12th floor at the time). While walking back a few other jolts came. You can probably still find videos of skyscrapers swaying in Tokyo and that was really it. Some people inside the buildings around me were at the window watching outside. They looked very calm.

   3/11 was a Friday, we got a great weekend of increasing panic (the tsunami TV coverage was heartbreaking, aftershocks, Fukushima blowing up, aftershocks, neighbors screaming in the middle of the night, empty convenience stores and supermarkets, did I say aftershocks?) and finally I was expected to go to the office on Monday. By mid week I was flying out of the country to find a place where my wife could give birth. Ah yeah, “flyjin” was the nickname at the time. 🙂

8. I had just started my own business and was out getting items for clients. I got the train home and about 3 minutes after I stepped off everything went strangely quiet. I was walking home and one of the buildings in front of me started to crack. The ground was moving and then a huge crash, a crane had fallen from a new highrise and landed on the post office that I frequented. It was intense.

   I ran home to find the floor covered in smashed crockery and the power and gas off. I tripped the switches and got the TV on. The news was coming in fast, it was a really big one. I couldn’t believe it after the Indonesia quake. I had been there shortly before it happened. I made a very rational decision to head over to the supermarket across the street to get milk, shit tickets and bread. That was a savvy move in hindsight.

   My wife was working for a mountaineering company in Shibuya. They all had to leave the office and walk home, but the boss of the company provided backpacks with safety gear, helmets and lights. That was amazing of him to do so. He walked all of his staff out of Tokyo. That man was a hero.
   I went to meet my wife about 5km from home after we finally managed to get a message through, it was 6pm by this time. Then we watched as carnage unfolded. The tsunami alert will forever be etched into my brain. And the AC adverts about being morally responsible were something I will not forget.

   As I was working from home I got to deal with the aftershocks on a daily basic, to the point I could guess their strength accurately. But the thing that shook me was when the reactor blew, that was another matter. Everyone was scrambling to leave Japan, but I had to stay for my business. In the following months I raised several thousand dollars from customers who wanted to help Japan, all of which was donated to charities to assist the people affected.

   Tokyo was a different place, the lights and signs were off. You could see the stars, it was so different. It was really quiet. I am glad I stayed as it really confirmed for me that Japan is home. There was such a sense of community.

9. I was in Osaka, but on the 16th floor of a building so we felt it. The shaking wasn’t as intense, but it was very long.

10. In my office building in Kagurazaka. Only on the second floor so was able evacuate to the car park outside. Wasn’t overly scared / upset by it, mainly because other colleages were more visably concerned so I was doing my best to comfort them. I’ll never forget the tarmacadam of the car park rippling like waves in the sea, and the earie creeking of the two parts of the office building rubbing together. Luckily I lived wealking distance from my office and central so the after effects of train cancellations and power cuts didnt really effect me. On the day went back to my place with some colleages who couldnt get home, comforting each other through the after shocks which shook my lil wooden place considerably.

11. Yeah i was in soma city at the time it happened.
    Glad to be kicking still.

12. Was in Ibaraki, during a down period in a junior high school. I went outside and sat at the bottom of the flag pole for some reason. Stayed with the kids until everyone got picked up, then went home to no water for three days, no electricity for five.

    Didn’t have anything to eat or drink so I picked a random direction and drove. Found a liquor store where they were selling things by natural light and calculators. Bought a case of straight tea, peanuts and apples and that was all I had for the rest of the week.

    Did an interview for CNN and the news still comes up when you Google my name. Fun times.

13. Later, post quake, people were still edgy as fuck about stuff like that happening again. I remember being inside Kashiwa station. It was really crowded that day because it was matsuri day. There had to have been at least ten thousand people all crowded around the immediate station vicinity when this strong quake hit suddenly. This triggered one of the most bizarre reactions I have ever heard in my life. Literally 10,000+ people all screamed in unison and the sound was out of this world! It wasn’t a scream of surprise but one of sheer terror! Then immediately when everyone realized what they had spontaneously done it was all laughs and embarrassed looks…

    All the elevators in the station had stopped though and the people trapped inside for over an hour were the only ones NOT laughing…

14. I was in Japanese classes learning about transitive and nontransitive verbs. Earthquake hit during our break and everyone freaked out, naturally. We finally head back into classes and the teacher went right back into the grammar lesson,  at one point having to hold a tv to stop it falling during an aftershock.

    I walked home afterwards,  halfway around the yamanote line. So many people walking even though they could stay in their offices or wherever because the need to be home is so strong.

15. I was in the shower of my top floor 1LDK apartment. I panicked. There’s something about being completely naked when an earthquake hits.

    The best part?

    The door from the bathroom to where all my clothes were was blocked by books that had fallen off the bookshelves. Eventually I was able to force the door open enough to get my arm in and push the books back.

    The room was carnage. The hanging lamp was still spinning so much that it was nearly touching the ceiling. Anything that was on top of a dresser or other furniture was tossed everywhere. Weirdly none of my furniture or appliances were tipped over. The TV even stayed on it’s stand.

    I got dressed and panicked again. In my fear addled state, I thought “My wife is going to kill me if I don’t clean this up.” I came to my senses fairly quickly, grabbed a few things, and headed for the door. That’s when one of the bigger aftershocks hit. I cowered in the half open door and thought to myself this is how I’m going to die.

    My day went better than some. I survived, but I didn’t want to stick around for the one that’s supposed to hit Tokyo. It took 8 years and a lot of convincing my wife to leave, but we moved back to my hometown just a few months before COVID. FML.

16. It was 3 days before I got married, stayed at my in-law’s house with my husband. We just wanted to go outside to buy apples for apple pie when it hit. The dog and I hid under my husband’s huge desk. I don’t remember how bad it felt, just that it was very long.

    Afterwards we went outside to an open area, and were surprised by how normal everything was. I think I only realized how much of a deal it was once I got back inside the house, turned on the TV and saw what the situation in Tohoku was like.

    The next weeks were very surreal, with countless aftershocks, 計画節電, and TV stations talking about nothing else. I was so relieved when they returned to normal programming, because I just couldn’t take it anymore.

    I also had to travel to Osaka to get my marriage documents confirmed by the German authorities, because the embassy had fled Tokyo because of the radiation…

17. I was in Kobe on the fourth floor of a building in Sannomiya taking a cooking class. I felt dizzy, and said to my teacher that I needed to sit down, then the building started swaying. My teacher said, ‘It’s not you!’. I thought that the epicenter must be in Osaka-wan, as we’d had a large one there in January. They turned on a TV at the front desk and I saw the quake was near Miyagi, and my blood ran cold. I knew it had to have been huge, for us to feel it. I dashed off messages to my son and DIL, and her mom in Tokyo before the phones went down. It was 7 hours or so before I heard from them, but they were Ok. The tsunami footage was heartbreaking.

18. I wasn’t but my ex husband was and he stupidly went outside and said him and an old guy just stood there watching the road warp

19. was in azabu, the building i was in started shaking, and we all rushed out. they wouldn’t let us back in after, so with some friends found a bar and camped for the next few hours. watched the news and saw the tsunami come in which was horrifying. started to get late but the trains were still not running. walked from azabu to shinjuku with a dead phone battery. didn’t see a lot of damage. when i finally got to shinjuku, the oedo line had just started running so crammed onto a stuffed train to get the rest of the way home. a few small items had fallen over and the gas had shut off. hung out at home for a few days until the power plant started blowing up, then took off to osaka. the power plant situation seemed to be getting worse and family was calling me screaming so got a flight back to the US. stayed for about 10 days until things started to calm down, and then returned because my whole life was in tokyo. coming back, it was difficult to find bottled drinks (there was a purchase limit) and toilet paper. a lot of places had dimmed or shut off some lights, except the pachinko parlors were still going strong lol.

20. We were in a Tokyo stationery shop. We waited until it was over, then called my spouse’s family (also in Tokyo) to check if they were OK and reassure them we were. Next we posted a Facebook message to assure my family of the same thing. Then we helped pick up the shelves in the stationery shop. After that, we helped remove the façade of an old bakery that had fallen into the street, blocking the door and trapping the (remarkably old) owner inside. We went home and cleaned up our place and rode out the many aftershocks. The next day, I walked to my office downtown and cleaned up there. The aftershocks continued for months; the last one I associate with the 11 March earthquake was on 1 or 2 January 2012.

21. I was in an elevator on the way back to my office on the 20 something floor. The elevator made an emergency stop.

22. I wasn’t, but my now-husband was living in Aizu, Fukushima. He quite literally slept through it and woke up confused when his mother (who evacuated without him) came in screaming at him to get up and come outside with her. The man sleeps like a freaking log.

23. March 11th was the last day to pay taxes where I lived in Kamakura. I knew I’d be in a long line since I put it off until the last minute, so wasn’t bothered when I saw the line snaking out the door of the pre-fab at city hall. Waited about an hour or so in line.

    Was finally inside the building with one other person ahead of me when the shaking started. Lights went out. A few people ran outside. Some screamed. After the shaking stopped, even though it was dark inside, the staff continued taking people’s tax forms.

    I had this weird moment where I considered my safety, then the hour or so I’d waited in line. Figured, what the hell, and went forward to pay my taxes.

    Now even though the lights were out, all of the laptops were still running on their batteries. So they were able to process my paperwork. Until they needed to check the numbers that is. Since I was working as an ALT at the time with some eikawa on the side, my tax return was pretty simple. But the solar powered calculators wouldn’t work in the dark. I ended up handing my old flip phone to the guy and he checked the numbers on my phone. Got my stamp, dropped it off at the main building, and checked out Kamakura without electricity.

    Always thought it was funny how even after that massive and frightening quake the stay just waved us through to keep filing taxes.

24. At work, small office, way lower floor count than u/SufficientTangelo136, but not a new building. It hit, quite hard, with stuff falling from the ceiling, lights flickering…. I very honestly thought this was it for a few seconds.

    We evacuated the building, and felt the stronger aftershocks outside, but you could see the cracks in the road moving sideways, the poles dancing around, that sort of thing. And learning that the epicenter was near Sendai,,,, damn,,,,

    And then the roads closed, I remember very clearly Shinjukudori, a 2×4 large avenue near the office, being PACKED with people trying to walk back home.

    My appartement, rather new, was in a taishin structure, and well, swayed -a lot-, so everything inside was completely trashed. Cupboards flying around, glass everywhere, etc. so we decided to move after that. No more menshin, we’ll go menshin. Some of the few deaths in Tokyo happened nearby. And on the evening, the videos coming from the Northeast with Kesennuma on fire, the first few nights with the recurring aftershocks…

    I have no idea what I was doing from Monday to Friday morning that week, but I can pretty much retell hour by hour what I did and where I was after 14:46 on Friday March 11th.

    Anyway, I learnt that “well, quakes actually DO happen”, it’s fine to be overprepared, rather than underprepared….

25. Was working in Roppongi ichome at the time on a 3x floor. Shaking was not bad, it was the rotating and twisting that was crazy. I think it lasted for well over 8 minutes. Stood in a door way watching the blinds on the exterior windows rotating in circles without hitting the wall for a few minutes as they synchronized with the dampers in the building thinking wow, that’s amazing and hope the building doesn’t collapse. The evacuation down the stairs was a long trudge with drywall cracked and falling on us. That was the most scary.
    Gained a huge new respect for structural engineers after that.

26. What I still remember is… A.C. Japan. 🙈

27. I was in Sendai. About as close to the epicenter as you could get without being hit by tsunami. I was in school at the time. The room swayed a lot. All the books fell off the shelves. When it finally stopped we gathered outside and spent the next few hours in the doorway of the gym because it started snowing while listening to a teacher’s car radio. It seemed strong but we had no idea how bad at the time. I remember being concerned that my old apartment had probably collapsed. I walked my bike down the mountain to home, seeing other people wandering, surprised, jumping at every aftershock that shook the buildings around us. When I got home, th building was fine but my place was a mess. I didn’t know what to do. Went to the local store to buy candles and any food I could. Went back and used my phone to try and find out the scale of it and if my friends were ok. Ended up meeting a girl I had dated a couple of times before at a local elementary school and staying there over night. One of the worst nights of my life. Couldn’t sleep. Dozens of people around us. Convinced lights would fall on us in an aftershock, but we got free instant ramen.

    What followed was a five day adventure of just trying to get food and a safe place to sleep every night. On the third day everyone was talking about the Fukushima plant. Saying we should get out of there. On the fourth day while I was at a pop up market grabbing our first fresh vegetables I got a call from my student friend who had connections to the media. She told us they expected the power plant to blow any minute. I remember racing home on my bike convinced the rain falling on us – I was still with my date – was radioactive and I would die soon. We left on a Shinkansen on the fifth day just as nerve wracked. And then had a two week adventure travelling Japan looking for somewhere we could afford to stay. Luckily my job gave us two months pay upfront. When we finally returned to Sendai we had electricity and water but had to wait another week for gas.

    And yeah, I’m still with that same person. She moved in with me when we returned.

28. I was at work at the Ginza Apple Store having my lunch in the basement with a couple of coworkers. We went upstairs to the first floor and found everybody (customers and employees) hiding under the big wooden tables.

    I spent the rest of the day in the back of the store following the live news on a stream (NHK? I can’t remember which one). After my shift ended I couldn’t take the train back home, so I stayed until later that evening doing other things such as helping stranded customers into the Apple Store theater in the 3F so they could rest/wait there.

    Later I decided to walk back home (about 20km) because I was worried about my pets. I kept taking photos along the way and even got on the phone with some radio station from back home (Catalonia) who wanted to talk to someone over here.

    I wrote about it in my blog and posted some of the photos there: [https://www.lavandeira.net/2011/03/the-night-of-the-japan-earthquake/](https://www.lavandeira.net/2011/03/the-night-of-the-japan-earthquake/)