Earthquakes
Before we came out we had the impression that these were rare things at this end of Japan. Obviously not so. We had just moved into the house and purchased our mobile phones with 4G internet. Neat. When one evening we heard a buzzer going off we thought it was the front door bell. It didn’t sound right but what else could make that noise? I went to the front door an opened it and that is when the first quake struck at the house. The house shook. It didn’t just tremble, it shook. Then the tremor died away. OK so what are you supposed to do now? Nobody was at the door by the way. Lillian checked her phone and she had received an earthquake alert warning. It’s a good idea to get a local phone as soon as you can if you are planning to stay. At least then you know when to get ready to run. The alert warning is a good idea but a number of people have said that it is more nerve wracking than the actual quake. Not so certain about that but it does put you on edge the few seconds before the quake hits.
The house seems to be well built. The second night was also disturbing. I don’t think I would like to be in a multi storey block of flats. Apparently school children are trained to go under the desks when the warning first goes off. Then when the tremor dies away you get outside before the next one. Our house has a field in front. If the worst happens we would have a field we could go and sit in which is far enough away from the buildings and trees so we wouldn’t get hit. I understand now why some of the larger stores have sections devoted to emergency care, rations and surviving outdoors.
