As of 2:46 pm on March 11th, things here have been a little uneasy to say the least. We are thankful for all your prayers and our Lord's hand on us and our entire family. We are all safe and doing well. An amazing story from all of this comes from our church. There is a lady who is from one of the coastal towns that was entirely wiped out by the tsunami. She had no word on the status of her family until this morning (Tuesday 3/15) when her uncle was able to get through to her and let her know that all of her family is safe including her grandparents whose house was a short walk from the ocean. Needless to say, all of us in our church family are rejoicing over this news.
On the 11th, Yoko and Maika were at home, and Erik was at a hotel on the other side of town for his school's graduation. After the earthquake, our cell phones did not work so we were not able to make contact with each other until we met at our designated evacuation site around 5:00 pm (Literally, the day before the earthquake we decided on where to meet if their was an evacuation; God's timing is great.).
We are about 200 miles or 320 kilometers from the epicenter. Yoko and Maika were in the apartment which is on the 9th floor. It is reported that the quake was around a 6 here, so for them, it probably felt more like a 7. As you can imagine the whole building was really moving, so Yoko grabbed Maika and ran down the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, Yoko realized that she had nothing with her, so with Maika under her arm she raced up the stairs and grabbed essential items. Yoko's mom was having lunch at a nearby restaurant, so Yoko and Maika found her there. They then went to the evacuation site to wait for Erik.
Erik was on the second floor at the Narita Hilton for his school's graduation which was to end at 3:00pm. The hotel was evacuated with limited panic. The bus which was to take the students and staff back to school wasn't able to leave until around 4:00 pm, so they all just waited outside. Some students are from the hardest hit areas, so there was quite a bit of anxiousness. The bus made it back to school around 4:45, and there was a joyous family reunion soon after that.
Our building has sustained exterior damage, but we are assured that there is no structural damage. The picture below is from the ground floor. There are a number of places on the building that have similar damage. Because of the frequent aftershocks, we spent the first night in an evacuation shelter. There
are so many aftershocks that we feel like we are moving even when we aren't. It's as if our equilibrium has been affected.
At this time, rolling blackouts are happening, but we have not been affected yet. All of the classes at Erik's school have been canceled this week. There is no gasoline available, the supermarkets are bought out of many Japanese staples (rice & instant noodles). We have stocked up a bit on diapers and dry food that we do not need to cook. The nuclear power plants that are a cause of concern are about 120 miles or 200 kilometers away. The public is being encouraged to stay inside as much as possible. Life here is a little uncertain, but we know God is in control and this is just one more sign pointing to His soon return. Please continue to pray for us and Japan.
