Earthquake in Japan

So today something scary happened. There was an earthquake...and numerous aftershocks. I just want to update everyone on our story and what we've experienced. Brad and I live in Higashimatsuyama which is in Saitama prefecture north of Tokyo (not near the ocean so we don't have to worry about a tsunami). The big earthquake happened at 2:45, which was during cleaning time at our school.  I was putting paper in the copy room, talking to another teacher when it hit. At first I didn't think anything of it because I have felt numerous earthquakes since moving here a year ago. However instead of going away after a couple of seconds like I'm used to it kept going and kept getting stronger. After a second my teacher started yelling at me and the other students in the room and ran over to the PA system to tell people to get under cover. So I sat under a desk and watched as papers and things fell off the shelves and desks around me. It finally stopped in which case I got out of my desk and immediately went to my phone to try and get a hold of Brad. Then the teachers started crowding into the teachers room to talk about what the plan was with the students. Luckily classes were already finished for the day but there was supposed to be club activities after school. Soon after that we felt our first after shock.

Other people, including Brad told me that they evacuated their school during each aftershock but nobody at my school moved. The students were in the process of leaving when the first aftershock hit so maybe that's why we didn't evacuate. I'm not sure though.

Like I said before I immediately grabbed my phone after the first earthquake hit to try and get in touch with Brad. I sent him a text and then went onto facebook where I saw that he had posted something about the earthquake and knew he was ok. I stayed at work until 4pm and then biked home like I usually do. Brad rides his bike and takes the train for his commute and usually get's home at around 5:20. I had initially seen his post on facebook but he hadn't responded to any of my texts/emails/fb messages etc (ok, I'll admit it, I was getting worried) which isn't like him at all. He didn't end up getting home until almost 6pm because he had to ride his bike home since the trains stopped working. Apparently the cellphone service was more spotty than I originally thought because I still haven't received any of the texts Brad tried to send me.

Now we are sitting at home watching the news, which is incredible. I have basically watched it since it happened and saw the tsunamis hit live. I can't believe some of the damage that happened in Tokyo. After seeing all that I realize how lucky Brad and I are. While the earthquake was definitely really strong and scary, we definitely escaped the brunt of the damage. The only thing that happened at our apartment was some things falling off of shelves, but nothing broke.

Our friend Chris, works in Koenji which is in the middle of Tokyo. We talked with him around 7pm and he said that he was handing out fliers at a train station when it hit and he said it was like the loudest thunder he had ever heard. He said he started running right away because he thought it was a train that was going to crash through the station. Right now he is stranded in the part of Tokyo where he works. The trains aren't working and everyone is depending on taxi's and buses to get home. He posted a picture on fb of his office and it looks like someone went through and overturned everything.

It has now been about 5 hours since the earthquake and we are still feeling pretty significant aftershocks every 15 minutes or so. I have to say that earthquakes can be kind of fun to feel but when you're not sure of how strong they're going to become or what the damage might be it is definitely not fun.

Anyway, we're doing good. Lucky that we aren't hurt and nothing of ours was damaged. And I hope these stupid aftershocks stop soon.