Japanese earthquake and tsunami: At the time of the disaster,
AQUILA had just published the March issue about JAPAN.
We are happy to reassure our readers that all the children
mentioned in that magazine are safe and well.
Here is an eye-witness account from Amy:
Dear Aquila
I think you know by now that on March 11th there was a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan. That day was my Auntie's birthday! There were tsunamis, fires, nuclear factory explosions, aftershocks (little shakes after the big one) and planned power cuts. Everything is a complete disaster here, but even I am better off where I live, than all the people who lost their homes and families and are staying at evacuation centres.
I was
at school at the time, and the bell had just rung for us to go back for
homeroom. My friends and I were waiting for the rest of the class to
come back. It was 2:46, when the building started to shake! Then it
began to get incredibly scary and my teacher, Ms. Fish, told everyone
to go under the tables. Water bottles and pencil cases actually fell
off the desks! The earthquake lasted for about five minutes (a long
time). When it stopped, the alarm went off and we put on our helmets
and went outside.
The problem was, that that night was Bingo night and the car park was crowded with cars. It was a great fuss to get them all out to make space outside for the school. Also, people were dressed up as Greeks for Bingo, so everyone was shivering in their sandals and tunics! People were crying and even throwing up, so my friends and I did an earthquake fashion show to cheer them up!
Luckily, we got blankets and
first-aid sheets (the blankets are packed in bags - see
photo), and I wasn’t going to Bingo so I was in my
warm uniform. We also got biscuits and brownies. For about three hours,
I sat around outside and sat around inside, all the while trying to
contact my mother. I live over an hour away on the train from my
school, and there weren’t any available trains, so I was in
big trouble. Then, at last, my mother got in contact with me on my
phone! You see, the phone lines were unbelievably crowded, and it was
practically a miracle.
My mother told me that someone was going to pick me up. And soon enough, my Auntie who lives near my school came on her bicycle. The taxis were full up, so I walked all the way back to her house. I saw tons of people walking relentlessly around, and it wasn’t that surprising that some people took nine hours to walk back home! I stayed at my Auntie’s house for the night.
The next day, I met my mother at a station on the way back home. I was much better off than many people who had such a hard time and are still having a hard time, but readers like you who live in England are the luckiest of all to not have to experience a single earthquake in your whole life!! Even now there are planned power cuts and aftershocks all over the country. This was my experience. I remember it as 3.11, not 9.11.
From Amy, age 11 (I am half English and half Japanese)