Earthquake!

I was teaching a private lesson today, when the ceiling started to shake. I thought it was someone jumping around upstairs, but it didn't stop. A few seconds later my student said "earthquake"; if she hadn't, I wonder how long it would have taken me to realize it.

We watched it from the window which overlooks the major Ginza intersection. It was interesting because we could see the street lights swaying. Traffic stopped in the middle of the intersection and people gathered on corners.

I wanted to experience an earthquake while in Japan; I've never been in one before. This one was a bit too long and strong though. Every time I thought it was about to stop, it would shake more, and harder. At first I was calm, but when I saw how scared my student was, I got scared too. Many students said it was the strongest they ever felt. The buildings are designed to deal with the stress, and shock absorbers do a good job. They also make a lot of creaking noises, which make it seem like the building will fall apart.

No major damage in Tokyo occurred, except for a few cracks in buildings here and there. My office closed early, but unfortunately all trains were (and still are) cancelled. Luckily I caught a cab with some friendly strangers and got home in about an hour. Watching the news now, I see many people are stranded in the city or walking home, and the city is completely jammed.

The tsunami triggered by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake did a lot of damage in Sendai, a city 200km north of here. Fortunately it's far away from Tokyo and won't reach us. Unfortunately, it wreaked havoc on all those people there.