Today is March 14th, as I mentioned in this post here Japan celebrates two separate events for Valentine’s day. February 14th as described in this post….and March 14th when the men that received gifts on Valentines would reciprocate to the women. With the Sendai earthquake of March 11th the entire country is still in mourning for the thousands of lives that were lost. You can see the extent of the unbelievable damage here I was stuck at Ochanomidzu station in central Tokyo on Friday since 4pm to around 10pm and couldn’t get back to my home in Oomori (about 45 minutes train ride), and couldn’t get a hotel either. My cellphone battery went dead and I had left my charger at home. After borrowing one from a helpful stranger phone I managed to get hold of a friend of mine. She had dumped her car somewhere along the road so she couldn’t pick me up, instead we agreed we would walk and meet half way and then go to her house. I walked for 45 minutes and met her halfway and went to her house where I spent the night.
On Saturday some train lines started working and I finally made it home after a 3 hour wait and train ride. Back home there wasn’t much damage since most of my stuff had actually been picked up by a courier that morning for transport to London where I am moving. I managed to buy dry food and water but as of now, the stores are empty there has been no gas since Friday. We have electricity but as of today there will be rolling power cuts 3 hrs at a time. But my story is nothing compared to the people that were in direct line of the earthquake and resulting tsunami. The situation is as bad as you are seeing on TV and is still very unstable as we are experiencing 3/4 aftershocks every hour (more than 250 since Friday according to the news).
Our hearts go out to all the people that have lost family and friends in the disaster. If anyone outside Japan is looking for family or friends feel free to message me and I will try and help in any way. The phones are working on and off so if you are not able to get through it’s probably just because the lines are down…not because something has happened to your family. Email is the best way to communicate right now.
Now I
really blame myself for loosing touch with her.
Hi Dana, I am so sorry for what is happening in Japan. Everyone is in a state of shock and talking about it here, but we can not imagine how challenging it must be to be living this tragedy. I lived in Yokohama for a year when I was 21 so I need to email the families that hosted me and the friends I had to know if they are alright. I hope you are OK despite the chaos; you are in our thoughts!