It was 13 years ago today- March 11, 2011. at 2:46 PM Japan Time, a 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, 45 miles east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approximately six minutes, causing a tsunami. It is sometimes known in Japan as the “Great East Japan Earthquake”. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and the fourth most powerful earthquake recorded in the world since modern seismography began in 1900. The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that may have reached heights of up to 133 ft in Miyako in Tōhoku’s Iwate Prefecture. The tsunami caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, primarily the meltdowns of three of its reactors, the discharge of radioactive water in Fukushima and the associated evacuation zones affecting hundreds of thousands of residents. The World Bank’s estimated economic cost was US $235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in history.
I was in a business meeting in Tokyo, Japan. We stopped the meeting as the floor started shaking. We were on the 9th floor. An earthquake was not unusual, so I was not immediately concerned. Then I saw my Japanese colleagues crawl under the conference room table, as they told us “Get down!”. I had never seen this before- usually after a few shakes, everything went back to normal. This was different. A young Merck colleague, on her first trip to Japan, asked if we were going to die. My Japanese friends were all checking their phones, getting updates on the earthquake. We were told to leave the building, so we all quickly walked down the 9 flights of stairs. The streets were jammed with people- every building had been evacuated. I turned around, looked up, and saw the building swaying above me from the aftershocks. We heard police sirens and saw ambulances rush by. We later read that 2 people were killed and 34 injured at the kudan kaikan hall, right across the street from our office. Luckily our building was more modern and built to withstand earthquakes. A Japanese co-worker told me “This isn’t good!” I told him, “Don’t tell the others in our group. They are already worried.” We decided to get away from the tall buildings and walk back to our hotel, about two miles away. The walk would take us past the Imperial gardens, which we knew was a flat area, to reduce our risk of being near collapsing buildings. Another coworker asked me if the ground was going to collapse below us as we were walking. I hid my fear, laughed and said “no, everything will be fine.” We finally got to our hotel, which also served as a refuge for stranded business people. All of the major roads and public transportations were down, so people working in Tokyo had no way to get home. They slept on the floors of our hotel, using newspapers as blankets. In typical Japanese style, everyone was polite and orderly. I was struck that in spite of the chaos, everyone was still using the designated trash and recycle bags placed throughout the hotel hallways. People were all helping each other. The hotel staff was obviously prepared for disasters. All of our power was off initially, but after several hours I was eventually able to take a service elevator as far as it would go, and then walk up an additional 11 flights of stairs to get to my room and gather my things. I remember feeling the room shaking as I was packing my bags. As the power started coming back on, I saw on a TV in the lobby that a giant tsunami was hitting eastern Japan. The video was terrifying- I didn’t mention it to the others, as they were frightened enough as it was. We spent the night in the hotel lobby, waiting for our transportation- I was able to speak with the driver on the phone, and he said he was not sure if or when he would get to the hotel, but he would try his best. We were prepared to wait for as long as necessary. He finally got to our hotel, and after a 6 hour ride taking all back roads, our very skilled driver was able to get us to the airport (it is normally a 1-hour drive). I was pretty new to Facebook at the time, but it turned out to be a great way to stay in communication with friends and family. Below are some messages and photos from that unforgettable day.
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