This morning I got woken up by an earthquake. It was the first earthquake in our new apartment, so we weren’t sure how the building would act. Would it swing violently, would it make a lot of noise? It turned out it’s almost silent, but it moves like Jagger.  You could really feel the different types of waves. First back and forth, than side to side. The whole quake took about 45 seconds, during which we did nothing else but sit up in bed and try to estimate if it’s a regular earthquake or one that requires further action. Luckily, we felt the waves getting weaker very quickly and soon they disappeared.

The first thing we gaijin do after such a quake is get a laptop and visit http://www.jma.go.jp, which auto updates all earthquake information within two minutes of one happing.  Turns out it was a magnitude 5.2 quake, it’s epicenter about 20km deep and 60km away from Tsukuba. That’s pretty close to the surface, but also pretty far away. Still, M5.2 will probably be the strongest earthquake this week, although it could also be a precursor to a bigger one coming soon. With earthquakes, you never know.

What we do know, is that earthquakes happen a lot in Japan, and from someone coming from the Netherlands, it really is a lot. I mean, several times each day. Now, Japan is a big country, and a lot of them are quite weak, but on average you will feel an earthquake every single day. I say on average, because they are usually clustered together. You can go a week without feeling one (but not much longer) then feel 3 in one day. What I’ve heard so far is that the frequency of quakes is a lot higher since March 11th. A lot of these quakes we feel are aftershocks of the big M9.0 quake, which apparently will go on for years to come.

It’s easy to understand that with this high frequency of quakes, the whole Japanese society is prepared to deal with them. Basically all buildings are build ‘earthquake-proof’ (the ones that weren’t are destroyed by now) and kids and adults are instructed how to act during and after an earthquake. Interior design is adapted as well: slightly upward tilted shelves, no shelves above your bed (or at least not above your head), and electrical appliances and kitchen-stoves automatically shut down during heavy quakes.
People have emergency torches, helmets, flashlights, radios and emergency stockpiles.

The idea behind these stockpiles is self-sufficiency for at least 72 hours. That is that time the Japanese government thinks it will take to reach everyone after a major earthquake, like the one in March. A stockpile should contain several bottles of water, food, medicine, first-aid kit, batteries and tools, but also entertainment as  boredom usually leads people to do stupid things. Karina and I are building a stockpile too. I’ll post some pictures when it’s done.

Sometimes, it feels like ‘over-preparedness’, but big earthquakes, like the Marth 11th one, prove that there is no such thing as over-preparing for an earthquake. Earthquakes in Japan are part of the daily life. And because it’s part of the daily life, it’s not really threatening. Earthquakes that would destroy large parts of a community in other parts of the world (like the M6.3 in Christchurch, New Zealand, or the M7,1 in Van, Turkey), won’t even stop the day to day life in Japan for longer than a few minutes.

In many ways, it’s a bit like the Dutch and their floods. The Netherlands is so well-protected against flooding, that it’s actually safer then a lot of surrounding countries that aren’t lower than the level of the sea. It’s a crazy paradox when you think about it.