3/14

Today I had school again. Many ALTs chose to take holiday and/or evacuate but I felt no reason to. The nuclear reactor situation is all over TV but besides the immediate area [12 miles which have already been evacuated] there should be no reason to worry.

A map from BBC, outlining the quake area and reactor locations:



I am in Aizu area, which is right around the U in Fukushima.
Even Tokyo, which is highlighted as an area with strong shaking intensity, has almost no damage. They have, however, instituted predetermined black-outs for different parts of the Tokyo region in order to conserve energy for the areas that need it. I don't know what the international image being displayed on TV is, but it seems very organized to me. I understand that certain areas near the coast are highly effected, but just beware of the media frenzy taking place, both here and there.


From Rich, a great explanation of why you shouldn't be worried:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3396817

This morning, about 9AM, all the teachers phones sounded an earthquake alert. The teachers all yelled "It's coming!!!" About 5 seconds later, an aftershock hit... some rattling and the blinds swayed but nothing major.

I found out during lunch that most of the teachers and family were OK. One teacher's friend lost his house and my main JTE, Arai sensei, had $700 worth of damage to his roof. Luckily, insurance will cover it. We were alerted to bring our lunches as of Wednesday because the school is donating our lunches to tsunami relief.

The lights were dimmed or turned off [it was a sunny and warm day!] to conserve energy as was the internet. The TV played the news softly in the corner of the teacher's room all day. There seemed to be a somber note in the air at Kitakata 2nd JHS [Nichu] which seemed indicative of the national tragedy at hand, but it proved to be a normal day otherwise.

There have been 2 larger aftershocks [but no warning] this afternoon.

With Japan being such an organized society, it seems so un-Japanese to have so much devastation. It is really intriguing to see the reactions to this crisis. For example, the people in Koriyama without water and gas each had people contact them to get water and brought them a bento [boxed] lunch today. How on earth did the [holy crap! huge aftershock just now!!! 6PM] city organize that?? They even brought each resident a chemical toilet to use until the water came back on [for most I know, at some point today].

A line for water near Sendai [where I went to see the Bodies exhibit this summer]:



And as far as people in Fukushima who were evacuated and went to stay in evacuation centers for the night; Every person had a clean and new futon, blanket and pillow and they had set up showers, restrooms, the whole 9 yards. Isn't that instant organization unbelievable? I just compare that to people after Katrina who were living in the Louisiana Superdome. Madness.

Things are still normal at Sunny Plaza. Tonight is another chill night in, cooking, playing video games and watching Mrs. Doubtfire.