From those of us near the reactor

[goddessofvenus2]

I just want to tell you guys exactly what has been happening to me. As all of you are well aware, on Friday afternoon around 2:45 an earthquake hit Miyagi and Fukushima prefecture. If you didn't know, I live in Koriyama, which is smack dab in the middle of Fukushima prefecture. On the afternoon of the earthquake, I had just left my my school after having English Club. The third years had just graduated and went home an hour earlier. I headed over to a meeting for all the junior high ALTs at a place called the Niko Niko Kodomo-kan. Because it was graduation day, I had been wearing high heels, and decided to take the elevator up to the room for our meeting. I had literally just stepped off the elevator and into the meeting room when my phone went off indicating an earthquake was coming. The other ALTs and myself exclaimed "jishin!" (earthquake) as we normally do, when the quake became severe...and all of us dived under the desks and held on to them above us and held on for the longest earthquake I had ever experienced, and of course the strongest. It was terrifying to say the least, especially knowing I could have been trapped on the elevator. As it finished we ran for the stairs, passing workers of the building as well as mothers and children...our meeting building is a day-care for the city hall. The children were terrified, the mothers were crying. We left the building and headed straight for the city hall right next door. It was then we started to realize how severe the earthquake really was...several windows were broken and the top floor of the city hall had caved in. All of the workers from the city hall were gathered in the parking lot, scared and unsure of what to do next. As foreigners, we were just as confused and scared, and completely unable to help do anything. People headed for the large park, Kaiseizan, across the street. We were told to go home, stay together, see our apartments, and avoid buildings. We waited in the park for 20 minutes before going home. Of course our apartments were in chaos. There were cracks the walls of all our apartments, our screen doors had flown off, the sliding glass doors had all opened, and my TV stand had collapsed. My fish somehow survived. Aftershocks came every 10 to 15 minutes, and every shake obviously put us on edge. We had no water, eventually they turned off the gas, but the electricity worked. Unsure of how safe our apartments were, we stayed the night at an emergency center along families just as scared as we were, shocked awake as cell phones blasted alarms for coming aftershocks. The next day we tried to get food where we could, but bottled water was scarce and only certain shops were open. We found ourselves going back to the park to wait in line for water. We pooled what food we had together and packed our bags to go to the emergency center if need be, and decided to stay together in one apartment for the night. That night at 2 in the morning, a friend of a friend, a volunteer firefighter, came and told us he thought it best we get out of Koriyama. One of the nuclear reactors in Fukushima had had a steam explosion. Our friends came to the door in a panic and told us they were heading to Aizu, the very west side of Fukushima prefecture. The left in a van with seven people, and my friend Ryan (quite famous now) decided to take me, Marc, and Erin in his car. We drove to Aizu and stayed in an internet cafe for the night. We had stopped at a convenience store first, because I had no money and my friends had very little. But the ATMs, while working, weren't allowing people to take out money for the banks based in my area. Luckily, friends of Erin's, Mark and Kim, contacted Erin and told us to come and stay with them. They live in Kitakata, a city just north of Aizu-Wakamatsu. Had we not had the offer, we probably would have headed straight to Tokyo. It was nice to finally have a hot shower, clothes, and good food in our stomach. The few days spent here has been an emotional roller coaster; being with good close friends and enjoying conversation and laughing, but at the same time being glued to the TV as problem after problem wracked several of the nuclear reactors along the coast. The highs and lows have been understandable. I'm glad I got out of Koriyama. I keep hearing from friends still there, they still have no water, no gas, have been staying at evac centers, getting food when they can, and to top it all off, they are starting to screen people for radiation poisoning. I've gotten a hold of a few students, but know nothing of the teachers or my schools. We have bags near us at night, just in case. But it's hard to be negative with food in my stomach and clean clothes on my back.

For now, that's all for my story. I know people have been worried, and wanting to know what's going on, not to mention I wanted a record for myself. Ima, genki desu. Ganbarimashou.