Earth Quaken

We had quite an earthquake here yesterday morning, but forunately Chieko and I, along with all our worldy possessions, emerged unscathed. The same can not be said for many folks on the nearby Noto Penninsula, which is very close to the epicenter. From news reports it seems that one or two people were killed, but judging by some of the pictures I've seen a lot more lost houses or other property. The quake registered 7.1 on the Richter Scale. For reference, the Loma Prieta quake in San Francisco back in 1989 registered 6.9. This was a big one.
While Japan experiences earthquakes on a pretty daily basis, it is pretty uncommon for us to get them in this area. In fact, after living here for a year this is only the second quake I've felt, and the other was a very minor tremor. Yesterday's quake was one of the two most powerful I've felt in my 3+ years of living in Japan.
When I first came to Japan I thought earthquakes were actually pretty cool. I only felt small tremors that lasted a few seconds and caused things around the house to rattle. The houses/apartments are built to shake, and even after the quake subsides places generally continute to sway for a little while, kind of shaking out the tension created by the earthquake.
I used to live in Saitama, which is a prefecture (state) on the other side of Japan. Earthquakes are much more prevelant there, so I felt my share of them. The scariest was the Niigata Earthquake. When this hit I was at work, and it came during a 5 minute break between classes. It was very strong, and quite long. I was a bit shaken up (ha ha ha), and the worst part was that I had to get back to teaching. What made things worse was that after the Niigata quake, there were several powerful aftershocks. So there I was, up in front of class, when things would start shaking again. It was pretty difficult to concentrate on teaching English when I was worried about the building collapsing. I knew it was a serious thing when even the Japanese students looked worried during the aftershocks. These are folks who have grown up with earthquakes and have a pretty good sense of what's normal and what's not, and I figured if they were unnerved, I probably should be too.
When we go to visit Chieko's parents in Niigata, where the epicenter of that quake was, you can still see physical signs in the land, landslides on the sides of mountains and such, from the Niigata quake 2 years ago.
At the time of yesterday's earthquake I was sitting in the kitchen sipping coffee when the whole apartment just jolted and began shaking quite violently. The initial jolt of an earthquake is in interesting moment. Will it get stronger, or just fade away. But there's always that initial jolt. Chieko came running downstairs. I never quite know what to do during earthquake; should I run outside or just stay in and hope for the best. What I end up doing is pacing around, inching my way closer towards the door so I can run out if things get too hectic. As sudden as the onset of an earthquake is, it tapers off and leaves an eerie silence in its wake, and I am usually left with a uneasy sense of relief.
As frightening as earthquakes can be, there is something completely fascinating about them. Much like a strong storm, but even moreso, you get the sense of how powerful nature really is, and how we are utterly subserviant to it.
Japan is still a bit techtonically antsy this morning, as we woke up to a small tremor this morning, but knock on wood, things seem to be quieting down. Chieko and I are heading off to visit her sister's family and their new baby this evening, and also to pick up the car we are buying from them. We're planning to drive back here tomorrow, which should take about 8 hours. We'll probably stop off at her parent's place on our way back, which is about half way, and we may end up crashing there for the night. We're back to work next Monday, so this is our last blast of vacation for a while. Time to get this day started...we've got a lot to do before we head off this evening.