Day of the Disaster

Where to begin?

After the earthquake (or pre-shock, as they're now calling it) we experienced on Wednesday, the earth kept moving every now and then. Aftershocks are typical after a big earthquake, so I didn't think much of it when I began to feel some slight tremors on Friday afternoon, March 11th, around 2:45 pm. I was curled up on the couch trying to finish a book for our first Lady Samurai Book Club meeting that was scheduled for the following Tuesday night. It was a pretty depressing book so I was already not in the best state of mind. I looked up from my kindle, watched the curtains swaying, and waited for the movement to die down. I started to grow a little concerned when, after several seconds, it hadn't stopped. Clearly, this was not a normal aftershock.

Suddenly, the earthquake intensity rose and it grew very loud in the house. The windows were rattling, and it sounded like the walls were snapping back and forth. The ceiling fan was buzzing again and all of the crystal stemware hanging inside of our bar started ringing as the glasses banged together. I hopped off of the couch in a flash and braced myself in the doorway of our bedroom once again. It was difficult to keep my footing because the building was moving so much and the door kept slamming into me. I really started to panic as the Japanese collectibles we have displayed in our living room came crashing down off of the shelves and I heard glass shattering somewhere in the kitchen.

The power went out, and I was torn whether I should stay put or risk running through the house and building atrium to get outside. The earthquake lasted for almost three minutes. Finally, when it seemed to be slowing down, I make a break for the front door and stood out on the sidewalk, gripping the handrail of the front steps to help keep my balance as the ground slowly settled down.

It seemed to be over, but I did NOT want to go back inside and sit down, so I grabbed my coat and purse and hopped in the car. I didn't know where to go and felt silly running away when no one else really seemed to be panicking, so I decided that going to check the mail was a valid excuse to leave. I was still shaking as I drove down to main base, and seeing that all of the stoplights were dark down there didn't help my nerves.

When I reached the post office, the lights were off inside and the automatic doors were thrown wide so no one would get stuck inside. People seemed to be moving about normally, though, so I ducked inside and grabbed the mail, then sat outside in my car and posted a new facebook status about having an even bigger earthquake. Just then, the ground started shaking violently again and my car started bouncing and swaying like an amusement park ride. I wasn't sure what to do - is it safe to stay inside or should I get out? I looked around and the people in the cars next to me had the same wide-eyed expression on their faces. The question of the afternoon seemed to be: "What do we do?!"

After the second quake ended, I definitely didn't feel safe going home, so I drove over to the neighborhood near the chapel where some of my friends live. It made me feel better that everyone on main base had evacuated their homes and were huddled together out in the cold, talking animatedly. Clearly, I wasn't the only one freaking out.

First, I went and checked on Kara Paulus, our new ADO's wife who was pregnant and due any day now. The first time I rang her doorbell she didn't answer. (It didn't occur to me at the time that the doorbells wouldn't work because the power was out.) Later I revisited her house and found her smiling in the kitchen with a roller in hand. Their household goods were being delivered in a couple of days and she was determined to get that kitchen painted - power and stable ground or not! What a trooper!

Next I pulled in in front of Becky Jantz' house. She's been kind of a mentor/motherly figure here for me and so it was comforting being with her and her family. We had several more aftershocks while we stood out in the cold, and it helped me stay calm to see the kids giggling and enjoying the sensation. Then, after about thirty minutes, we walked one street over to check in with our squadron commander's wife, Jenn Steffens. She was standing out on the curb with her dog, daughter, and bundled-up twin baby boys. In the next couple of minutes, more wives from our squadron arrived looking for information and comfort. We joked that Jenn should have a Lady Samurai bat signal to send up and have us rally together whenever disaster strikes.

Soon, one of the guys showed up to let us know that every squadron was performing a full recall in order to make sure everyone was safe and accounted for. Jenn ventured inside to grab her home phone and started making phone calls from her doorway so she could step outside if the ground started shaking again. However, her efforts were soon proved to be futile because none of our cell phones were working, and most people had probably fled their homes as we had. So between the five of us, we divided up the roster and set out around Misawa to check on the other wives and make sure they were ok.

I drove up to the North Area - mostly concerned about our friends who lived at the top of the New Jersey tower. From the stories I heard on Wednesday, I knew that those towers were built on rollers and move a lot during major earthquakes. If I was terrified living on the ground floor of a town house, I couldn't imagine what they were going through. By the time I arrived at the tower, the parking lot was empty and all of the lights were off. Apparently everyone had already evacuated and found safe havens nearby. Later, I heard from those girls that it was indeed pretty traumatic being up there and feeling the building move so much. They had a lot of damage - broken glass, bookshelves and big screen TVs toppling over, etc. A few of the girls who had small kids grabbed them, swung them over their backs, and sprinted down 8-9 flights of stairs in the dark as soon as it was over and broke down in the parking lot. As far as I know, they haven't gone home yet.

Everyone else I connected with seemed to be doing ok. Same story as myself - they were shaken but had sustained minimal damage. Our main concern was what to do without power when the sun went down. It was around this time that I ran into Derick Gee who was sent to check on the 13th girls whose husbands are deployed. He's an intelligence officer who had seen the news reports saying that it had been ruled an 8.9, and told us about the damage down south and the tsunami warning. He said that we should plan to be without power for several more days, and to start filling up our bathtubs and any other containers we had available because the water was safe to drink right now but that could change. He also invited us over to their house. He and Lisa were busting out their camping grill and making dinner for anyone who needed a safe place to hang out.

I rushed home and called James, who was very relieved to hear that I was OK. He had been in the squadron basement at the time and didn't feel it nearly as bad as I did, but was concerned when he couldn't get a hold of me. (I had told the officer doing the official recall where I was but apparently that didn't get communicated to him until later...) He came home and helped me sweep up the broken glass from the one picture frame that broke, and to fill up every pitcher, mixing bowl or plastic container that we owned with clean water. We both agreed that our bathtub was not clean enough to drink out of - haha.

The earthquake party at the Gee's house that night was actually one of the highlights of this whole experience. Lisa is so extremely resourceful and had the house set up perfectly. She made little candlelit snow lanterns leading up to their front door, and filled the house with light from the dozens of votives she had left over from their wedding. She grilled some steak and veggies on her little charcoal camping grille. When the fuel ran out she burned left-over pizza boxes! As time went on and the power clearly wasn't coming back on, she took coolers and plastic storage containers out back and filled them with snow to make literal iceboxes for their perishable food items. AND she hung up a clothesline in the back yard to dry the load of laundry that was in the washing machine when the quake hit! Incredible!

There were about eight of us over there for dinner. Several people brought over the entire contents of their bar so that it would REALLY be a party. James and I contributed a stack of boardgames to help entertain us. We had some pretty rowdy games of catch phrase going that I'm sure woke the neighbors... Not that anyone was really able to sleep much that night anyway. We kept having big aftershocks that freaked me out a lot. I was very uncomfortable being back inside the house, where it was literally pitch black. But James was there to help calm me down every time the bed moved and I woke with a start and a gasp of fear. Thankfully I had memorized the following verse back when I was so stressed about my health last year. Its truth has been my one comfort through this whole thing:

"I will lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone,
O LORD, will keep me safe." Psalm 4:8