Earthquake

     Last week there was a 7.3 earthquake to hit off the coast of Japan. I think the news made it seem a little worse than what it was though. Here by Tokyo the earthquake we felt was in the 3's or 4's someone said. Those numbers dont really mean a whole lot to me yet, but I am beginning to understand the scale a little. I just hope we dont have to understand the force of a 6 or 7. The earth quake was way in the north, of the coast a ways, and 22 miles deep underwater. There were tsunami warnings (3 feet in some places, 1.5 feet in others) for the northeast coast, but here in Tokyo we didnt have to worry about that. So far we have probably felt 20 or more little earthquake during the night or some during the day - lasting only a few seconds and not very strong. The earthquake last week was a little different. I was in the locker room after practice and things started to shake a little. I thought it was just another little one, but the intensity picked up and it kept going. The bench I was sitting on was moving and the room was visibly shaking. Out in the gym there was a badminton practice going on and they quickly hurried all the people outside. My coach said he was standing by the glass entry/exit doors and quickly got away from them in case they were to shatter. The earthquake probably went for 15-20 seconds. That may not seem very long, but count to 15 seconds in your head - now imagine everything is shaking and you have no control/cant do anything to stop it. It feels like much longer believe me.

     Being from WI, were not really used to the earthquakes (the California boys said the happen much more frequently out here too) nor did we have a plan of what to do in case a big one were to hit and all power were to go out.. We now have a plan on what to do to be prepared just in case - where to meet, extra food and water and how to try and get a hold of family back home. It wasn't that bad of an earthquake and I think it was a good thing it happened.