Earthquakes

Before I came to Japan, I thought about what it would be like to be in an earthquake. This isn't to say that I wanted to experience a bad one, but I was a bit curious. About 2 months ago, we had a small tremor here in Tombara. I was sitting on my bed typing an email on a Saturday afternoon. The shock was brief. So brief, that it hadn't seemed like an earthquake at all. It sounded more like an explosion than a rumble, like as if there was a bad car crash outside my apartment. It started with a small rumble, then it felt like giant kicked the side of my house. There was one good jolt and then it was over. After a few minutes of thinking about it, I realized I had experienced my first quake. Yatta! That wasn't so bad.

Then, about one month ago, when my mom was visiting, we had another similar quake. She was standing and I was sitting on the floor at my kotatsu. Same sound, feel, everything. She looked at me and said "What was that?" I flatly proclaimed that she had experienced an earthquake. At first, she was in disbelief. It didn't seem like earthquakes in the movies. But, I assured her that it was a nice little one. :-)

This morning, I realized that I hadn't really experienced an earthquake at all. Sure, the first two were real, but they weren't accompanied by the sheer terror that one feels during a more substantial earth shaking. Today, around 8:15, I was standing naked in my bathroom, drying off from my shower and putting lotion in my hair. (Yes, I use Burt's Bees Hand and Body Lotion in my hair.) I heard the rumble, but this time, instead of a nice little kick to my apartment walls, the house started to shake - violently. This earthquake was different than the others. It was sustained. It lasted just long enough for me to freak out and jump into the doorway of the bathroom in expectation of a collapsing roof. I looked into my kitchen sink, where there is a growing pile of dirty dishes. One of the pots was filled to the top with warm water. The water was splashing all over and making a mess in concert with the vibrations coarsing through the structure of my building. I think, if I can remember through my adrenaline-induced partial blackout, that I shouted a brief explative as I reached out and grabbed the door jams of the bathroom entry to steady my stance. This was an earthquake.

But, looking back, it was still rather small. Nothing in my apartment was damaged, aside from my sense of safety. I feel as though now I am part of a semi-exclusive club of people who knows what a earthquake "feels" like. Now, I have less than 3 months remaining here in Japan. Let's hope that I don't have to find out what it's like to be "affected" by an earthquake.

Shakily yours,
Maikeru
^_^

Today's quake struck at LAT:35.15, LON:132.72, Magnitude:4.7. The epicenter was about 6 miles from my house.

Link: Earthquakes in Japan

Link: Today's Earthquake in Shimane

Link: Today's Earthquake on USGS.gov