DONATE HERE - Red Cross
We got this email from our good friend Steve today. He works in the heart of Tokyo at an international school. Hopefully it will give a little different perspective than what you are seeing between updates of Charlie Sheen's diet.
We got this email from our good friend Steve today. He works in the heart of Tokyo at an international school. Hopefully it will give a little different perspective than what you are seeing between updates of Charlie Sheen's diet.
Hi Beck and Isaac,
It is eerily quiet today, Sunday afternoon. I just went for a bike ride, I have never seen the streets so empty, even on a Sunday. There is a feeling of anxiety here, with some folks predicting further quakes possible.
Friday at 2:45 I had a little guy in my office. He was drawing me a picture on the marker board. It started shaking, rocking, and for a few seconds I thought shit, this is it. I grabbed the boy, squeezed him and I under the desk, and books stated falling. No announcement yet to clear the building. I thought, seriously, as soon as I hear a big crash I'm heading for the door.
My office is on the 1st floor. 4 floors of steel and concrete above me, I thought my chances would be good to get this little guy out to the track, and if things start collapsing, we are not in the best place.
Soon after, the 2 minutes of rocking felt like 20, but an announcement was made from the main office to clear the building. All students had helmets, everyone exited the site, we stayed with them on the turf for two hours.
Most kids went home on the buses at 4:30, I was at school until midnight waiting for parents to come get their kids. Most walked, or took buses, which were crawling along, and at midnight there were still thousands of people, walking quietly, but trying to get home. Trains were all down. All roads were pretty much blocked a few hours after the quake hit, two of our teachers started walking to be with family, they figured three hours of hoofin to get to their wife and kids.
I'm fine, one day I just pray it doesn't explode here in Tokyo, it will be devastating. My thoughts and prayers are with the people up north, and the nuclear plants are leaking, a few of them anyway.
You take care, I miss you guys to, wonder when I'll see you again. One day perhaps, sooner than later I hope.
Love to both of you, and you can share this email with friends if they want one Tokyo guy getting thru the EQ in Tokyo. Bye for now.
A few more thoughts. Twitter became real to me last year during the #redshirt protests in Bangkok. It was a fast way to get raw information without the filter of media. The #tsunami in Japan has shown, again, the power that is in social media.
We found some of the best coverage on the earthquake and tsunami was not CNN, BBC or Fox "News". We actually turned to Aljazeera. I hope that they let us back in Texas having admitted this publicly.
The counselor at our school is from Sendai, the town in Japan closest to the epicenter of the quake. She has let us know that her family is all OK. Working internationally makes the world feel very small.
iBeck
