(Part 1 is below. If you'd like to read it first, just scroll down to the previous post.)
After checking the earthquake tracking site, my husband announced our sheltered bay would only have a 2 meter tidal wave at most. He also explained there were three levels of tidal wave alerts. Level one, yellow, is for around 1 meter. It means there’s really not much to worry about, but be careful Level two, orange, is the alert our bay had been given. It means do not go to the beach. Level three, red, is for three meters or more and means evacuate immediately. The bay area where we live is surrounded by a giant 30 ft. wall, so we knew it would be sufficient in handling two meters.
Some countries don’t have sufficient systems in place to sound an alert, yet, for the most part, Japan uses alarm speakers to forewarn its citizens to get to higher ground ASAP! All along the eastern coastline, the website showed red, a level 3 alert. We had no idea what time the tidal wave would hit, yet Chris and I mutually exhaled, “OK, good! At least they’ve got a system to get the alert out, PHEW!” Relieved, our panic subsided so we brought our family back to the house.
When we got there, my husband turned the gas line off. Then it became obvious the foundation was now tilting. Soon after that, we discovered the phone lines weren’t working. Then it became evident the toilets weren’t flushing and the tap water was no longer running. Overhead, helicopters were flying around all over and taking notes of the damage. We also learned a nearby oil refinery had caught on fire.
After that, my memories start to blur. I know during that time my husband and our second and third oldest kids went out to help our neighbors dig mud out from around and under their vehicles. Amidst watching our little ones and doing an inspection of what food storage and water resources we currently had, I kept trying to call our 13 year old who was stranded down in Tokyo. The phone lines were useless though. We found out the train lines were also not working. Many roads and bridges, we’d find out later, were out too. When we finally contacted our daughter later that evening through email, it was such a relief. From there, we somehow arranged for her to stay in Tokyo with some of our friends. Three days later we were so glad she was finally back!
One thing I’d overlooked during the inspection of our emergency storage was that I’d moved our refilled water bottles out to the garden shed the last summer. Just before remembering, and just as I set to the task of making dinner, I, out of habit, thoughtlessly over-squirted a dish with TONS of dish soap and then reached over to turn on the kitchen faucet. As dry air came out of the faucet, I looked down at the beef blood. Suddenly I was so overwhelmed I just needed to bawl. I knew we needed to carefully ration our drinking water for things like dishes and hand washing. Luckily, my husband was there beside me. He’s been my greatest asset through this. He had been a missionary back during the Kobe Japan Earthquake in 1995. For him this was old hat. I don’t know what I would have done without him! So we prayed together for strength and it was then that I remembered the bottles out in the shed.
Back during an emergency preparedness class, I’d learned to refill large, purified water bottles with tap water just in case of emergencies. Old tap water can be used for washing dishes and hands. It’s also good for rinsing out things like opened cans of tuna. It’s amazing how many things we use water for.
Plain water, itself, isn’t something people here in Japan drink very much of. Mostly they drink green tea or mugicha, a wheat tea. However, Japanese people do tend to leave heated water in their bathtubs for soaking in. It serves a dual purpose, the other being some sort of water resource in emergencies. In fact, that was one of the things all the neighbors were going around making lists of, “Who here has water in their tub?” As Americans we don’t tend to keep our tubs perpetually filled with soap-free water to soak in. I suddenly felt an awful large twang of remorse for not having adopted that tradition here. So...we weren’t able to list that as a resource, yet we were able to hand out purified drinking water, but it’s better to have other options for washing dishes and hands with. So, if you feel awkward perpetually keeping your bathtub full, if you have a shed or a spare cabinet or even a barn, storing up tap water is very wise. It’s also very sanity promoting to store wet wipes, hand sanitizer, and paper ware.
Luckily we also had those bags you can insert into your toilet and the odor-reducing sprinkle kits that go with them. They are not fun to tie and dispose of though and then where can such things be stored? It left visions of our entire community starting to smell like a medieval village. When we found out we would still have trash service three times a week, we were ecstatic! As I’m writing this, though, it’s been 4 weeks since the earthquake and, still, part of our neighborhood, including the school, has its sewer and water out, and gas has only recently returned. Several neighborhoods throughout our town are still in this situation. So, in other words, if you’re going to buy bags and sprinkle kits, get plenty.
We discovered when your family is out digging the neighborhoods free of mud, day after day, dirty clothes start accumulating, as well as thickly caked boots, gloves, and coats. When those days turn into weeks, you can imagine... Our entryway didn’t just turn into a momentary piling place, but a long term mooring place, for all kinds of filthy clothing. It didn’t help that our dryer broke down the morning before the earthquake, we had drying racks set aside though. I had no idea when water would be back on for washing clothes or when we’d be able to replace the dryer. Oh, those poor moored clothes! About a week and a half later cold water finally started to trickle. It took almost another week for the pressure to get strong enough to wash anything though.
Thankfully our electricity was still on through all this, except during rolling blackouts. We were able to use our freezer, fridge, bread cooker, microwave, toaster, blender, and our electric skillet. As a nursing mother, this was a blessing, however I felt heart broken other people were having to go without. If the electricity had been continuously off, it would have been colder, out-of-the-can meals, no fresh vegetables, no fresh fruit, no milk or other dairy products. It was bad enough knowing babies were without mothers up north. School children were having to search through wreckage for food.
It was during this time, crisis number three began to emerge. Due to the tidal wave that hit all along the coast, the Fukushima nuclear plant began a partial melt down. I was surprised. How could a three meter sized tidal wave cause such a problem. It was then that we researched and realized how catastrophic and massive the tidal wave had actually been. It ranged from 10 up to possibly even 30 meters tall!
There were more evacuations. News updates using long scientific words (that require a physics and chemistry background to understand) began coming out. All this began to trigger hysteria. Conspiracy theories began to circulate. Headlines, for example, announcing “Another Nuke Blast,” sent people all over the world into a state of panic. A nuclear bomb’s explosion and a nuclear plant’s partial melt down are very different things and I think it was very manipulative journalism. We were not in an official evacuation or “stay in doors” area. However, in deciding what we were going to do, my husband had the physics and chemistry-nerd background to guide us through this calmly. We knew the Japan government as well as the US navy were tracking radiation closely. So, if you’re not having to evacuate, instead of panicking, you can help keep available (or help provide) food and medical resources for those who truly need them during emergencies. And if you’re going to live outside your own country, I recommend learning how to speak the language. That has helped us amazingly in knowing which prefectures radiation-free foods are coming from. Above all, if you or others make mistakes, learn how to be willing and eager to forgive. That’s really what this life is all about anyway.
