11th march 2011, It was yet another afternoon in Tokyo. I had lunch with my gang and after some gossip came back to desk. When I was just about to get started with work I felt earthquake. I looked up and exchanged smiles with colleagues as it was nothing unusual to feel tremors in Japan. Geologists say that Japan is located on the “Ring of Fire” therefore volcanic activities and quakes are very much normal there. I did experience it first time when I was welcomed with one on very day of my arrival to Tokyo. So like always we ignored this one too. But when it went on for a while I checked watch and realized that it had been almost half a minute since building was wobbling. Then I jokingly asked do we need to take it seriously? It started getting stronger then I shouted to catch corners of the building but instead I saw everyone rushing downstairs. That moment I realized how difficult it is to feel confident in one’s own rationale in such situations. So I too followed and started rushing to ground floor. Our office was located at 17th floor of the building and it was becoming harder and harder to put steps forward as tremor was getting intense with time. Whole building was shaking so much as if it was frightened of something fatal. We were at around 6th floor when tremor seemed at its crest. Building seemed giving up and surface started showing cracks. Fear of building collapse was looming in my mind and heart was pounding tremendously. The very thought of losing life surged into my veins because if building had happened to fall then there would be no chance of survival. This feeling was something I never felt before. I am not ashamed of saying that “fat gayee thi.. literally”. It took few minutes (around 3 and half) before we reached ground floor. Panic could be felt out of everyone. It was astonishing moment for us to watch 25 storey building swinging. There were mixed feelings of fear and joy.
We all were trying to reach out to our families on phone but network was so jammed that hardly anyone had chance to succeed. Quake could still be felt, as per the reports quake and back to back aftershocks lasted for around 54 minutes with varying intensity. Having gone through all this we felt like we should grab cup of tea so we headed towards Shinagawa station which was around 20 minutes walk from office. After reaching Shinagawa we learnt that gas supply was blocked. We came back to office to collect our belongings. All this while we were hearing that tsunami might strike and soon it all started. Lots of videos showing devastation being done by tsunami were on air. We wanted to go back home early but were advised not to go out for the fear of tsunami hitting Tokyo was there and our office building seemed to be safest place at that time. We waited for couple of hours for tsunami warning to be lifted and then decided to walk down the distance (around 4-5 hrs) to our homes because trains were stopped and traffic seemed not moving at all so taking taxi was futile. We walked for around more than an hour to reach Diamon station and fortunately found trains running from there.
That night was horrible. After every 10-20 minutes earth was shaking. I struggled hard to sleep. These low intensity earthquakes which I used to ignore were now scaring me. There were hundreds of aftershocks and many foreshocks measured.
Our families in India were restless. Media was showing brutality of the nature but probably did not convey that Tokyo was still far safe than the places where tsunami had hit badly. I believe it must have been much harder time for our families than what we were going through, because we knew that we were still safe but there was no way we could have convinced them about it.
Next morning news on air was one of the nuclear plants blasted. Things were striking Japan back to back; first earthquake then tsunami, now this nuclear tragedy. One after another nuclear plants got out of control. Radiations were yet to reach Tokyo. We were hoping for condition to come under control but it was going other way round. Finally on Tuesday we came to know that radiation level had started building up in Tokyo too. There was nothing we could do but taking precaution until we fly back. At around 11 pm we got tickets for Wednesday morning. It was difficult to wrap up on such short notice. But we managed to do it by early morning. Finally we reached Narita airport. Only after boarding plane we could take a sigh of relief. We were waiting for flight to take off and suddenly to our surprise plane started shaking. It was yet another tremor probably wanted to wave us off before leaving :)
At IGI airport Delhi we were inundated with reporters looking for some spicy news. But we probably disappointed them. Reality was that Tokyo still was not affected the way media wanted us to show.
When I reached home probably that would have been the happiest moment for my family after this difficult period of mental agony.
Well this was all what we had been through. And if we are safe today then this is only because of the technology which Japan is at par in than any country in the world and due to the commitment and sense of responsibility they have towards dealing with everything.
Natural disasters can never lead to anything good. May there be no such incidents. I had been in Japan for almost a year and whatever I learnt being among them compels me to think do they really deserve anything like this? And answer is a big NO. They are too good to be treated like this and probably this is the blunder done by nature. You might wanna question why do I feel so, the only answer I can give is it is hard to find people and country like them in today’s world. And only the person lived among them can realize it. I fortunately am the one and am deep in love with them.
Japan..Loving Tokyo :)
