Earthquake! Feb. 13, 2021

There was just a huge earthquake here in Japan. It was magnitude 7.1 and it was Shindo 4 here in Sagamihara. That means that it shook strong enough to make things move and fall from high places.

I got home from work and ate dinner. I sat down to relax and unwind. These days, I don’t fall asleep, I pass out. The same thing happened today. I was half awake but mostly sleeping. I was listening to an audiobook. Suddenly, I felt a small shake. It didn’t stop. My wife opened the door to my room and i realized that it was serious. I ran to the kitchen to tell my wife to get under the table. She was worried about the snake cage so she was standing next to it, holding it in case it shifted. I manned the fish tank since it is much much heavier. Honestly, I am not sure if I would be able to stop the fish tank from moving. The cats came out since they were scared too.

The light in the kitchen swung back and forth like crazy. The last few years, You could see it swing slightly when there was an earthquake. This time, was totally different.

Since I was sleeping when it started, I was not aware of time but it felt like it shook for a solid minute, possibly a minute and a half.

My wife was watching a YouTube live streamer, and he was reporting what was going on so we could hear that the epicenter was Fukushima!! Not only that, there is a tsunami warning again! It almost seems like March 11, 2011 again. I certainly hope not. The reason I say that is not what you might think. The reason I worry is that there was a big earthquake on March 9th ( or 10th, I think). It was a foreshock.

There are two things running through my mind right now. First, If this was a foreshock, it means another big one is coming. The second thing I am thinking is that this could be a triggering event for another earthquake in Tokyo instead. I pray that it is not the case. I will try and calm down.

There doesn’t seem to be any damage to our apartment. Only some spilled water from the cat bowl and my Lego Motorcycle fell and broke. The beauty of Lego is that you can put it back together.

** First update:

There is already an earthquake storm of aftershocks that are to be expected with a quake like this. We have not felt any of them here.