chochajin | [Japan Life]: Magnitude 6 Earthquake

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[Japan Life]: Magnitude 6 Earthquake

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all doing fine.
Just a quick update. If you follow me on any social network platform you probably already know about this, but I was awakened at 5:30am this morning when everything suddenly started to shake, my smartphone's alarm went off and outside there was also a loud alarm.
I jumped out of bed immediately, but had no idea what I should do!!!
I saw the big shelf next to my bed shaking like crazy and things kept felling down from it. All that shaking plus the two loud alarms just made me really anxious.

I quickly walked under my far too thin door frame.

I can't remember how long the quake actually continued, but when it finally stopped I crawled in front of my laptop to check what was going on.
I wanted to know how strong the quake was, where the epicenter was and if there's a tsunami warning.
As I don't have a TV or radio at home that was my only option.

Once I saw where the epicenter was, I was really shocked. It was almost the same as back in 1995 for the Great Hanshin Earthquake where parts of Kobe were destroyed and over 6000 people died!!!!

The earthquake was a lower magnitude 6, the one that killed many people almost 20 years ago was a bit over 7!!!!!!! (T____T)

Where I live it was "only" a 4 - and I'm sure that people who live in Tohoku or in Kanto can only laugh about it, but people around here, including me, are NOT used to quakes - especially not strong ones!
We were all quite shocked!

As I went to bed around 3am, I was so tired, but I was still shaking and aftershocks kept happening.
Every time it was shaking again, my heart almost stopped!

Finally it got a bit more quiet and after an early breakfast I crawled into my bed once again. After sleeping for maybe 1 or 1.5h I really felt refreshed.

I had to go to work then and talked to everybody about it. They were all just as shocked.
Throughout the day we had around 15 aftershocks!

They said on TV and online that we should expect more aftershocks for about a week and be careful.

Let's just hope that nothing big will come after that!

Later today I picked up all the things that fell down. It's a miracle that NOTHING broke! Even my little mirror that fell down was ok.

When I left for work I saw that the bicycles around my apartment all had fallen over. It was apparently shaking quite a lot.

I heard that the epicenter was almost the same, but in 1995 it was shaking up and down and this time it was "only" horizontal shaking from left to right. I'm no expert, so I have no idea what to make of this information. I always thought all earthquakes "shake horizontally" only.

Here are some articles about today's earthquake in case you want to know more:

Strong earthquake hurts 23

24 injured after M6.3 quake hits western Japan

Experts say there will be a big earthquake by 2014 in Japan and that Mt. Fuji will erupt soon.
North Korea is also getting on our nerves.
It's just not very nice recently, is it?

Hope everyone else is safe!

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I'm glad you're okay! I was so lucky to only feel 2 very mild quakes when I lived in Japan.

The few 1 and 2 quakes I never really felt. I asked a co-worker if a train just passed by and she was like: No, that was a quake!! O__O; .. *LOL*

Well, I guess I just stayed too long in Japan! ^^;
After all this was my first time.

Glad ot hear you were lucky with quakes! ^^

Glad everything is all right!!!!! Earthquakes are different depending on what the earth is doing - if the plates are shifting back and forth over each other it will be horizontal, but let's say one plate forces another up or down, or two plates crash head on and fight for the space, then the earth will move up and down!

Thank you! :3
Very interesting. I guess there's a lot to know about quakes, thanks for the explanation! :)

Well at least you get some kind of forewarning. Here in Europe we also have earthquakes, but no system even close to the one in Japan. Not to mention buildings that could actually withstand a bigger quake.

Mt. Fuji is "about to erupt" for more than ten years now. The scientist most vocal about it has written two books about it :) Not saying it won't happen, but Mt Fuji is the gentle kind of volcano, so there should be no loss of lifes at least.

To be honest I'm not sure if the alarm systems really work as forewarning!
I was deeply asleep, so I don't know if the alarm or the quake came first, when I woke up both was already going on.
I don't think it helps much if the alarm goes on at the same time the quake happens, right? ^^; ....

Haha, but I think it should be safe. Could only be that we can't climb it for a few years, but that's about it? ^^;

And about the up/down one. I woke up from one like that once. It felt as if someone had kicked me in the back!

I guess those are worse then?! :( .....
Certainly DON'T want to experience it!

The up-and-down earthquakes are considered to be more dangerous. Earthquakes are the reasons we don't have any shelves where things could fall out of in our bedroom, I don't really want to be hit in the head and killed by a freaking book... Seems like we had a Shindo 2 this morning, but I didn't even notice anything (；・∀・)

Stay safe!

Yappari? Glad it wasn't such a quake then! (T___T) ....
I did place my shelf with quakes in my mind. At first it stood at a place where it could easily fall onto me in my bed.
I don't have so much furniture, but lots of stuff, so I have no other choice! Luckily nothing was broken! ^^;

I experienced a few shindo 2 quakes and I rarely really felt them ... or at least I didn't reallize it was a quake! XD

I heard about this as I woke up yesterday. I can't believe it's only a week since I left 0_o Hope you're OK!!!

Thanks!
You were lucky, but after all nothing too bad happened! I only feel sorry for the people on Awaji Island who have to repair a lot around their houses now! :(

Wow, just a 4? I find that I cannot even notice quakes unless they are at least a 3. And I think the worst I ever experienced was a 5. But even then, things didn't fall down much in my apartment. Only once did a quake cause that and it was a vase of flowers that ended up falling and breaking on my kitchen floor. I'm really surprised that it was only a 4 and it caused things to fall. I'm guessing it must have been about a 5 where you were. Someone yesterday mentioned the quake to me but I hadn't realized it had even happened. I woke up at 5:30 but I often wake during the night so I thought it was nothing, as I never felt anything.

I never noticed the shindo 1 and 2 quakes around me, so I don't count them.
I have never experienced a 3, but this 4 was pretty bad.
I guess not only the magnitude, but also the nature of the quake (vertical vs. horizontal shaking etc.) determine how we feel it?

I am doing okay. ^^
OAO! Oh no..

I don't use a radio for me but for my talking/hearing family can hear to the radio sometime radio is useless and not fair to me. :T I kind of want it's more easy something for Deaf and hard of hearing people... orz

oAo;;;; oh god..Thanks for share link of wiki I don't know about that in 1995 was what's happened are so scary. D:

Oh, wow. o.o; I don't have a earthquake in my hometown but just very small in north of Alabama..is too far away miles from my hometown.

Whoa..it's scary..yes be careful. D:
I'm glad your things are okay. ^^

Please be safe. ;w;

Glad to hear that! ^^

Oh yes, radio doesn't make much sense in your case! T___T'' ...

Thank you! :D

*thumb up* c: ^^

Yes... *sigh* x.x; T-T

You're welcome. xD

My phone was buzzing off the hook with messages from friends checking to see if I was okay. Honestly? I slept through half of it. Believe that?! I slept through half! It's probably because I'm so used to it. But I finally woke up when my roomie burst in to see if I was okay because he hadn't heard me at all.

My room had already been messy so I don't know if anything actually fell....

(O____________O'') ..... Nobody I asked so far slept through the quake. Some went straight back into bed, though.
No wonder, you must be so tired! ^^; .... Don't work so hard! *hugs*

Well, when I was a student, our first housing was right next to a tunnel where the train would pass under, so I'm used to feeling the ground move beneath my feet. On top of that, I am a heavy sleeper. I guess it runs in my family though. My dad slept through hurricane Andrew and Katrina. Haha.

I'm the same. The Shinkansen passes by several times a day and makes everything shake, but at night it's quiet and my body knows that plus THAT shaking was MUCH stronger!!! ^^;

(O_______________________O'''')

I can't imagine having to deal with the shinkansen! That I probably wouldn't have gotten used to. But a train every 20 minutes or so was easy enough to become accustomed to.

Since I dont have much sleep time these days, when I do, I sleep deep. I'm sure you could compose a full orchestra next to me and I wouldn't wake up, lol. Maybe if I had been awake, I would have found it scary, but by the time I woke up when my roomie came, I was still pretty much in a daze. It didn't go one for more than a couple minutes after I woke up. Then I checked FB, checked my phone, turned the news on, then went back to sleep.

That was actually the easiest thing to get used to!! ^^
It doesn't annoy me at all :D
The frogs, bats and other creepy things were a MUCH BIGGER issue! ;___; ...

I'm pretty sure that's why you didn't wake up! ^^;
I don't have a TV or radio - like I said. And as I'm closer to the epicenter than you, I did feel the aftershocks and my heart stopped every single time. No way I could go back to sleep right away!! ^^;

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[Japan Life]: Magnitude 6 Earthquake

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