Actually, my story isn't even about the earthquake, because honestly, I didn't even feel it (but more about that in a minute...)
I'll start by saying that the kids and I were originally planning on being in Yokohama Friday at a zoo there. Yokohama is a fairly long train ride away and NOT within walking distance. My friend, Laura, and I had planned all week long to take our kids there on Friday. However, on Thursday, I suddenly decided that I did not want to take the time to go all the Yokohama the next day. And so we didn't. I assure you that if we had, we would have been stranded there at least overnight.
Instead we decided to do something fairly close-by. We went to Mikasa park for a picnic lunch and then took a short 10-minute ferry ride to Monkey Island where the kids played on the beach and we took a small walk on a trail through the island. Laura's daughter started to feel sick so we decided to take the next ferry, which was at 2:45. Minutes before the quake hit we were standing on a dock a fair ways above the water, no railing, 2 strollers, 5 kids.
The quake officially hit at 2:46pm. We were completely oblivious to it on the ferry. I didn't notice anything wrong and we wouldn't have even known that there was an earthquake except that someone told us to check tsunami warnings in our area as we got off the boat. Really? We were thinking it was just another small one like we've felt several times here during our stay in Japan and she was being overly cautious. Nobody else seemed concerned.
We started our walk to the train station but I said good-bye to Laura and her kids at the Daiei so that I could pick up some groceries. We took about 20-30 minutes to get some stuff and use the bathroom. Abby was really tired so I put Tristan in the ergo and Abby rode in the stroller. On our walk to the train station I realized that not everything was normal. There was a police car that went by with it's lights on and was giving a message over it's speaker, but it was all in Japanese. I also saw a navy ship suddenly pull away from the pier. Nearer to the train station, there was a huge line for people waiting for taxis. As I got into the station I noticed it had been closed. Not speaking Japanese, I had to wait to talk to someone at the station. He could really only tell me that the bus and trains had been shut down. Soon somebody came over to help translate and I learned that it was due a possible tsunami warning and that we needed to leave. But nobody really told me where to go and everyone seemed to be going in different directions so I went over to the bus terminal and the guy there asked me where I lived. I told him Taura. He explained to me that it was 3 km away and told me how to walk there. I didn't know how to ask him if it was safe so I got out my ipod and used my translator to show him the word for safe. He gave me the "okay" sign for Taura.
So we started to walk home along highway 16 but I was still a bit concerned because the highway is still at a fairly low elevation. I knew that if we could make it home that we would be safe in our 5th floor apartment. We were walking quite fast but at about halfway back I started to hear sirens over the public loudspeaker. It was soon followed by a message in Japanese AND English. "This is a tsunami warning, please move to higher ground." Well, seeing that I had no one to consult about what to do, and not knowing how imminent this warning to a possible tsunami was, I did the only thing that I felt was sensible - head UPHILL. And wouldn't you know, just after the message was broadcast, not more than 20 ft in front me was a sign (in English) "Tsunami Evacuation Route". So that is where we headed. The sign said to go to a certain Elementary school, so we were headed uphill, looking for this school. I'm not sure exactly, but I'm guessing that the evacuation warnings started going off at about the time the major tsunami hit north and the water in Yokosuka bay receded significantly.
After about 5-10 minutes we approached an intersection and a woman gets my attention "Hello! How are you?" Do I know this person? I realize, that no, I do not, she simply sees that I'm frantically trying to get myself and 3 small children to higher ground, and that I'm obviously not Japanese. It turns out that her husband works on base as well. She had also heard the evacuation warning and was wondering what to do. I tell her that it said to go to a school and she tells me that the school is right here, across the street and her house is right here too, on the other side of street. She and her son were taking their dog for a walk anyways and figured they might as well go farther uphill. She said there was a park and playground up there so we joined forces and went there together. We stayed until about 5 when it was starting to get cold and dark. We heard another evacuation warning and figured it probably was not safe to go back to the highway yet but since her house was near the evacuation meeting point, why not go there?
We went back to her house and she put a movie on for the kids and got us something to drink and then we went about trying to figure out what to do. Cell phone service had been down since just after the quake happened. We learned that she still had internet access so I quickly updated my facebook status and contacted Chad, who was still at work waiting to hear from me. He told me that the water had gone down below normal levels and then had risen again and gone out a second time but not as much. They had made him stay on the ship but were letting him go soon and said that it should be safe for me to return home. My new-found friend graciously offered to give us all a ride in her car because I still wasn't sure how much farther it was to the apartment. It was stop-and-go traffic but it didn't take us too long and we were so ecstatic to be home.
Not much fell over except a plant and a sippy cup that was probably on the edge of the counter. I noticed a small crack in the wall today but nothing major. And although there was never a tsunami wave to hit Yokosuka bay, I don't regret my over-cautiousness. It's really unbelievable to see the destruction that has happened to an area that's really not that far away from us. The trains are still down and there continues to be aftershocks. The last major one I felt was at 4:45 and 5:10 this morning (*update - there was just another one at 3:58pm). Aside from all that, I'm kinda in a state of shock myself and anytime I try to tell my story I start to cry because I remember once again how scared I was.
I thank God for his orchestration of timing and events throughout the day that kept us safe - our safety on the dock and on the boat, the woman who helped translate at the station, to the tsunami evacuation route signs and the perfectly placed American woman on the street. I know that there has been a significant loss of life and surely there will be those who wonder how God can even let this happen. Nature is nature and he if he didn't let anything ever happen then nothing would ever happen! I continue to keep those affected in my thoughts and prayers.
The dock at Monkey Island
{up-close: you can see how high the dock is, there is no railing where you get on the boat and you have to step way down}
we played in the sand
found a rock (a monkey-skull according to Jamie)
took a hike thru the old fort
came to the end of the trail
Laura took the older kids down the stairs
while I watched the babes-a-sleeping
and then we returned to the boat and caught the ferry back at 2:45pm.
