I feel the Earth move...

Hey there every one,

Sorry about the delay between posts, earlier this week my computer got a virus of some sort and it royally boned my computer, so much so that I could not load half of my programs. So once again I was forced to format... That makes it about the fifth time since I arrived in Japan I believe.

Anyway, I'm sure most of you have heard about the Earthquake that struck Japan last week. It was on Australian news, as well as American, British, etc. It was a 7.2, which is pretty big and the epicenter just happened to be good old Kitakami City... The city I happen to be living in.

I was on my way to work dreading the six hour day in front of me, a day which would be filled with misbehaved kids who for some reason or another want to punch me in the crotch for their amusement. It was never meant to be, after riding to the end of my street the world began to shake. It was as though the earth had come to life and was either yawning or roaring, because the sound was incredible. It was nothing I had ever heard before.

Nearby the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) Track which exist as an overpass above the road began to shake with such ferocity that bits of debris began to fall off onto cars which had been stopped or abandoned beneath it, the occupants having obviously run for shelter else where. I just sat on my girl, purple bike Sasha watching the scene unfold. After about a minute the shaking subsided and I continued on my merry way, thinking while it was big I had been in small earthquakes before and thought nothing more of it.

That was until I walked into the Kitakami Station, where people were hiding under tables, in door ways and generally anywhere they wouldn't be hit by a falling fluorescent light. I was greeted with "Oh my god! Did you feel that?!" by my neighbor Megan who came running up to me. Turns out she was heading into Morioka and was at the station when the Earthquake happened. All the trains had stopped, including the Shikansen and my classes were cancelled. I headed back home to find my apartment an absolute disaster zone. Things had been thrown across the room, pots and pans had fallen out... And my fridge had taken a dive for the worst and fallen over. Funnily enough... No one else reported any such damage to their belongings.... Grrr. My electricty, gas and water had also been turned off due to emergency procedures automatically put in place when an earthquake of such magnitude occured.

I ended up staying the night on Megan's flaw. I could feel every bump and shake of the after shocks that night, and at least once we both sat up ready to leave the building because of the size of an aftershock. I took some photos of my apartment, and around the generally area of my apartment, but damage was fairly minimal which was good. Other places were hit pretty bad, and there were over one hundred injuries and at least six deaths.

A pretty insane experience I would have to say...