Job Discussion Forums

guest of Japan · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 1601 Location: Japan

Hey Denise and others living around Nigata, are you all OK?

Even down in Chiba we were shaken pretty good. I read 13 people died and about 700 were injured. A shinkansen even derailed for the first time ever.

That was definitely one of the scarier earthquakes in my time here.

BradS · Joined: 05 Sep 2004 Posts: 173 Location: Tokyo, Japan

I think the bodycount's up to 20 now. Shocked

Here in Saitama we were shaken pretty badly too. Some roads broken in two. Nothing compared to footage I saw of Nigata though.

I think I counted 15 aftershocks last night! Also had several today!

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

I'm OK. Thank you for asking, Guest. I think most of the damage was closer to where tonester lives. You OK, tonester?

My town seems to be fairly undamaged.

d

TokyoLiz · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1548 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Glad you're okay, Denise!

The midnight and 6 am quakes were unnerving. Yeep, string of shakey islands...

guest of Japan · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 1601 Location: Japan

Glad you're OK. How about you Tonester?

Sweetsee · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 2302 Location: ) is everything

We're fine in Saitama, too. We were sitting in traffic in Tokyo when it felt as though someone was shaking the car. The roads are often shaking from the traffic but I was fairly certain it was a quake.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Hope Tonester is OK, haven't talked to him since the quake.

whtaccordrcr · Joined: 20 Sep 2004 Posts: 13

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Click on Japanese when you arrive at the homepage, you are

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Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

What does this have to do with the earthquake?

Sweetsee · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 2302 Location: ) is everything

They are both mind-numbing?

whtaccordrcr · Joined: 20 Sep 2004 Posts: 13

i forget to say why www.trancefuel.com is posted here. Its a japanese language learning site. And I have also japanese internet tv streams you can watch on the site. NKS broadcasts current events and such, and they actually had coverage over the incidents. But i guess if you dont understand japanese it wouldnt help you, but i use it to practice my listening comprehesion. I just thought it would be beneficial to teachers in japan that are trying to learn the language.
jr

Tonester · Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2004 12:29 am Post subject:

Forgive me for the late reply, as I ended up escaping the prefecture after the incident and then had to return to Ojiya as school resumed on the 7th of this month. Three words now that I'm back: It sucks here!!!

3 of my students were killed in the crisis as I live in Ojiya; the epicentre of it all. My apartment is a shambles and I have no water but the gas department did come last night and finally give me the all-clear to use the gas again. I have to take my baths at the local elementary school where the military have set themselves up and bathe there along with other evacuees. You know, I feel I can no longer trust the place. One of my friends who E-mailed me hit the nail right on the head; It is the ultimate betrayal when the ground shakes like that for it is meant to stay still! As a result of the crisis I've decided in my current frame of mind not to renew for a 3rd year as it has psychologically scarred me.

I thought I was going to die! I was in my apartment when it happened and I first thought that it would stop but it didn't. The lights went out and I started to scream as I was so terrified. I've never been so scared in my life! I ran for the door and opened it ready to escape and when the shocks continued I escaped and went to the car park area and stayed there while watching my Kyoin Jutaku apartment complex shake before my eyes. A colleague saw me after a while and drove me to Ojiya Junior High and in the freezing cold I found shelter in a colleague's car.

I called my parents later on at about 2:00 Japan time (3:00am in Australia) and told them. I was busy dishing out food, maintaining the teacher's camp, building toilets and other duties which made me feel overtired, overworked and just plain stressed. After 3 days in the cold and the rain I was given a lift to Niigata station where I stayed the night and then went from Niigata to Aizu-Wakamatsu. I then went from Aizu-Wakamatsu to Koriyama, then from Koriyama to Omiya, then from Omiya to Fukaya where my host family picked me up and I stayed there for a while. I felt much better as my host family gave me comfort. While in Saitama I got treatment as I had developed cold symptoms as a result of my 3 days in Ojiya and I took medication to relieve the symptoms and am also considering getting some counselling.

The Australian Consulate and others have been calling my keitai worried about my welfare and I thank you all very much for worrying about me.

The bottom line is that I'm shaken up but Ok. Psychologically I've had enough of Ojiya full stop and having spent 3 days sleeping in a colleague's car and said colleague having nightmares waking up screaming and myself having to counsel him I've just became physically and psychologically exhausted.

Aftershocks are still continuing. Early in the morning, I felt a huge one at the time when I was in my futon sleeping and the shakes scared me so much that I woke up and became too scared to go back to sleep for fear that the big tremor would happen again. I've been reading some information provided by my prefectural advisor and part of the info was from the counsellor who worked with the Kobe Earthquake victims. She wrote that fear, paranoia, anxiety and depression are some of the emotional reactions as well as flashbacks from the event. She's right!!!!

Fear and uneasiness just cannot describe what it's like here. I know that this forum is probably not the best place to express this but I just want to give you all an insight as to what it feels like to be an earthquake victim.

I am still so scared that I have difficulty sleeping. The Aftershocks make me feel paranoid and even the minor ones have me trembling. Even now I feel like screaming because of the fear that just won't go away. I feel lucky that I am not injured but also feel like as if this whole thing won't end. I really don't know what I can do about this but when I get a chance I will seek counselling by calling that Kobe counsellor because I feel that I cannot get through this by myself.

Only good news is that I am now counting down the days until December 16th when I will depart Narita in a plane bound for the land down under (Australia) where I will spend 3 weeks with my family for Chrissie and New Year and will not come back until January 8th. That date cannot come soon enough as it is so terrible here at the moment. I really want this nightmare to end but it just won't go away. It's in my face every second of the day and the resulting depression I feel is crippling.

So there you have it. Take it from me; it is not a pretty sight here and certainly not a nice place to be living in right now.

guest of Japan · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 1601 Location: Japan

Thank you Tonester for your heartfelt reply. Honestly, when I asked about you it was more out of courtesy than genuine concern. My life has been pretty free of tragedy. Natural disasters tend to happen where I am not. If I live in a place for years nothing will happen, but if I'm gone just a couple months there will be flooding, forest fires, typhoons and crippling blizzards in the places that gave me such peaceful living. Your account has given me a little more perspective, and at the next opportunity I will donate to the plight of those in Nigata.

Though you may not yet be OK psychologically, I'm glad that you are physically. You may see yourself scarred for life now, but I'm sure in the future you will come to treasure life as a result. I'm deeply sorry for the loss of your students and the despair so many in your area are going through. I can't imagine the terror you must have experienced and the hardship that has followed. I hope that you and those around you can come to feel secure again.

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Tonester, what a horrible ordeal you are dealing with. I have experienced countless earthquakes (first in California, and now in Niigata), but I have not personally been harmed or known people who have been. You're not that far away from me (I'm in Nakajo), and yet I cannot imagine what it must be like down there. I hope your time away from Japan over the Xmas holiday helps you.

And welcome back to the forum.

d

yeka · Joined: 24 Oct 2004 Posts: 24 Location: Japan

Hi Tonestar, I'm pretty new here, but I feel for you. I'm in Toyama, and we felt the earthquakes pretty strongly here. I am sorry to hear that your students' lives were taken... I can really relate as I was in the middle of class with some junior high school girls when it hit us. It was terrifying because they were so scared and I did all I could to keep them calm and safe. I can't imagine what would have happened had any of them been hurt.

I really hope your time away helps as well.