What was I doing when the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred??
As we commemorate the third anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, together with the people gathered here today, I would like to again offer my deepest condolences to those who lost their lives in the disaster and their bereaved families.
The huge earthquake and tsunami that struck eastern Japan three years ago today left more than twenty thousand people dead or missing. Many people are still living under difficult conditions whether they are in the afflicted regions or in the places where they evacuated to. The nuclear power plant accident caused by the disaster is making some regions still off-limits because of radioactive contamination, forcing many people to leave the places where they used to live. It pains me greatly to think that so many people do not yet know when they can go back to their own homes.
In the past three years, people in the afflicted regions, still living under severe conditions, have overcome numerous difficulties with a strong sense of solidarity and made great efforts towards reconstruction. I am also heartened to see that many people, both at home and abroad, continue to support these efforts in various ways.
My thoughts go out to the afflicted people who must still be experiencing various hardships. In order to ensure that they can live in good health, and that they can live without losing hope, it is important that everyone’s hearts be with the afflicted for many years to come. It is my hope that people will never forget this disaster and hand down the lessons we learned to future generations, and foster a proper attitude towards disaster prevention, with the aim of making our country a safer place.
Today is the third anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
I lived in Kyoto at that time. I was with my brother on the first basement level in a shopping mall called Porta beneath Kyoto Station when it occurred. Therefore we didn´t feel anyting when the first one hit.
When Great Hanshin Eathquake occured in 1995, when I was 13 years old at that time, I vividely remember that the floor, the house, things in the shelves were shaking a lot. We were sleeping and I made myself covered by Futon and protected myself.
Compared to this, the Great East Japan Earthquake was not that much, because Kyoto is far away from that area.
We went outside and went to a bus stop. Then the second one hit, but it was not that big, it seemed to be one of those normal eartuquakes. We were wating for the bus to come for 10 minutes or so, and we went in.
Then suddenly an old lady talked to me “Erai Jishinnga attannyatte? (I heard a big earthquake occurred, is it true?)”
I said to her, “Sakkinondesuka? Itsumonojishinnyattamitaidesukedo (You mean, the one that just occurred a few minutes ago? I think it´s just a normal one.)”
Then, another old lady talked to me, “Chauchau!! Erainonga okihattamitaiyade, tohokude! (No no, I heard a big earthquake hit in Tohoku area!”
An old gentleman said, “Oneechan, anta, keitaikanankade, nyuusuwo mirerunchau? (You can watch a news with your mobile phone, right?)”
I watched a news and it said a big, really big earthquake hit in Tohoku area.
People in the bus started talking about this earthquake.
As soon as I came back home, I tured on TV and watched a news. Everything was about this earthquake.
At first, it said this earthquake caused about 40 deaths. Then a few hours later, it reached more than 100.
A few hours later, the newscaster said more than 200 dead bodies were found on the coast, at the same time, the news showed us burning cities in Miyagi prefecture.
I was like, “more than 200 bodies? wow what´s happened?”
Then more and more dead bodies were found, and more and more people were missing.
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Article source: http://blog-en.purestpurple.com/2014/03/11/what-was-i-doing-when-the-great-east-japan-earthquake-occurred/
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