1st day -1: March 11, Fri.

It was around 3 pm. I was working on my computer. Firstly, I noticed joggle. Since a manitude 7 eartuquake occured in this Miyagi area two days ago, I thought it was only an aftershock for the first moment. I reluctantly found a refuge under the desk with my coffee cup. I didn't want to damage my computer by coffee.

Large earthquakes occur in this Sendai, Miyagi area every three-four years. I live here for good ten years, and experienced magnitude 5 or 6 earthquakes several times before. One in 2004 or 2005, the other in 2006 or 2007. So. I just thought that was one of those big ones, which does't last long. But. This one was different. It was long. Almost 3 minutes with two pauses. Quake didn't stop. I saw my books and my lotion bottles drop. Bounce and jounce. I covered my mouth with my hand and couldn't stop crying and screaming.

Finally, it stopped. I quickly grabbed my bag and mobile phone and rushed to get out of my condo. I saw many of my friends also evacuated from the condo. I dashed to the ground and told my crying friend at the 8th floor that I was going to pick up my boys. Since Japanese people, especially people in this North-east region, are shy, loud conversation between the 8th floor and the ground is not common. But. That was different. Everyone was crying, loudly.

My older boy, Sam, 6th grade went to the park after lunch because his class was closed that day due to  Influenza. My legs were still trembling, but at that time I didn't know that quake caused such a big disaster. It was big, but it was gone. So, I was rather settled. I found Sam on my way to the park. He came back home by himeself. So, I went to pick up my younger boy, Dan. He was at school. I ran into a friend. She was also going to pick up her girls. So, I talked with her and how big it was, but at that time, out conversation was rather competing each other how scared it was and which was more disastrous.

When I reached the school, kids were evacuated from the building and peacefully sitting on the ground. I easily found my sweet boy Dan. As soon as his cute face, I couldn't stop crying and tried to hug him. He coyly refused me, though! (he loves my hug when his friends are not around us). I took several pictures for fun. We noticed channels were broken and water spouted out of the ground.