freak out

on march 11 2011, at (approximately) 14:46:23 (JST), a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit off the east coast of japan.

on march 11 2011, at (approximately) 14:46:23 (JST), i thought i was having a bout of vertigo as my apartment started to ‘sway’ mysteriously.

after that weird moment i continued to watch ‘enchanted’ blisfully unaware of what was happening over 400 km away from my couch. if it hadn’t been for louisa’s first sms to me i wouldn’t have realised what was going on. initially i thought louisa’s message about a tsunami hitting japan referred to a tsunami that hit earlier in the week. i told louisa that it was nothing serious and that she shouldn’t worry and then twitter exploded and the messages starting flooding in.

damage control.

first thing first i had to text my family back home that i was safe and unaffected by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami. i followed the news feeling a little unsettled and continued to placate my family and friends back home that i was alive and well and surviving perhaps one of the greatest earthquakes of our generation. needless to say that the unfolding events did not make for a pleasant start to the weekend. i am surprised at my apparent lack of panic in situations like these, and i can say that i pride myself on maintaining composure in front of a crisis.

i am over here, not over there

(this is a picture of my location in relation to the current devastation)

when surrounded by a group of my peers the following day the need to maintain composure grew progressively more as people around me were showing the strain from the worry and i don’t blame them, although i must admit to wanting to slap some calm back into them. i am just not sure physical violence would help them much even though it would offer a great release to me.

there is no need to panic, because panic will only lead to chaos. we are physically ok, although quite close to danger we are ok.

i think as south africans, who are brought up with the real threat of danger and fear, we learn that life must go on and that we must not become paralysed by fear. it is not the best of situations but we need to take a look at the scene before us, be thankful to still be alive and then react. right now, i have confirmed that friends are safe and the next step is to see what aid i can offer.

i will be donating to the red cross in japan towards aiding those affected by the earthquake and tsunami and then i will pray that the great education system in japan has prepared the engineers to control the situation at the fukushima power plant and remove the threat of a possible nuclear meltdown. this is all i can do for now and i think that for most people this is true.

it is now march 15 2011 and the situation is still quite precarious, the tsunami warnings have ceased and now the threat of a nuclear disaster still looms over our heads. at this point many people are feeling inclined to hightail it out of the country but i really don’t want to do that. i know that it would give my family great peace of mind but then i would be stranded back home in sa with no job, no money and no quantifiable desire to get back into engineering. i miss my family a lot but i don’t miss sa half as much, i am enjoying life here in japan and the opportunity to learn the language and culture has been great and a dream come true. i just don’t want this experience to be cut shorter than it has to.

so the point of this post is to put it out there to the universe that i am not ready to leave and that i think you should cut japan some slack and ease up on the disasters a little. and to the people who are panicking and running in the streets proclaiming the end of the world “shut the f*** up”. maybe it is a little arrogant for me to want the end of the world to hold off until i am ready, but surely it is ok to be a little selfish some of the time.

and if you are able to, please donate what you can to the relief efforts to help japan. any little bit helps. contact your local red cross on how to get your donations to the red cross in japan.

light and love to you all.

(‘freak out’ is performed by avril lavigne and is taken from the album ‘under my skin’) – i have used this song before but it is very apt for how i feel

~ by freddy on 15 March, 2011.