Japan's Earthquake

The comfort of the everyday routine was suddenly broken when the earthquake hit us. It was March 11, 2011, the time was 2:46 pm. I had gone on my break from work at my usual time and headed somewhere to buy lunch. Then, everything started shaking, it was crucial to get somewhere safe—away from building or copious amount of ruble could fall on you and trap you—before it was too late. I felt a pang of fear and started running, but it was difficult to fight the force of the earthquake when the ground was developing fitful cracks and the shaking knocked you down.

The scene around me was chaotic, definitely not a situation to banter. People grappled for cover and everyone was screaming, buildings were cracking and so were the streets. Everything went silent as the shaking decelerated, but the silence was quickly replaced with the audible cries of the shocked and the wounded. How quickly had the azure sky and the comfort of the everyday routine change, and how suddenly it switched into a complete disaster?

Less than thirty minutes after the earthquake, a tsunami preceded. Luckily, I had been listening to the radio, sadly, others weren’t as fortunate. I managed to survive by finding my car--that was unharmed—and driving away.

Just when we thought that everything was over, we have received copious amounts of aftershocks that haven’t been friendly either. The survivors have found shelter in capacious buildings away from the ruble with the rest of the other survivors. All we have left to do is wait for the nightmare to be over and hope our loved ones are fine.