The phone rang at 4am on Friday morning. It was a call from the City of Newport Beach warning that an earthquake had hit Japan and a tsunami was headed our way. It was our first experience of the emergency notification service. The message was very explanatory announcing that the tidal wave would only be a few feet high and there was no need to evacuate. We also have tsunami sirens. If it had been life threatening, the sirens would have sounded and signaled a clear indication that we should leave immediately.
We turned on the television to see the awful news of the devastation. It’s heartbreaking and my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Japan.
I find it fascinating that an event miles and miles away across a vast ocean can effect us in such a way.
It seemed silly to worry about a few feet of water when we could see the overwhelming amounts of water pounding Japanese communities.
At 6.30, the phone rang with a message that school had been cancelled – a tsunami day. The school is on the beach and they weren’t taking any chances. As the boys woke up, we explained that they had the day off school due to a tsunami. They had a look of fear until they realized it was just precautionary.
Watching the news made me realize how vulnerable we are. I haven’t got an earthquake preparedness kit tucked away. We live on a very flat piece of sand, a peninsula jutting out, a tsunami would roll across it taking everything in it’s path. It’s utterly terrifying. I plan to prepare a kit with water and food next week.
There are many ways to help support the victims of this disaster. I hope you can make a donation.
We may have woken to a frightening phone call but it really was more of a reality check. We live in a vulnerable place – and we need to be prepared.
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Wow, how scary.
So much of the world is vulnerable to nature. Earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods…
Makes our snow and ice storm days here in the northeast seem positively trivial. (Tho in some areas a big storm can mean several days without power if lines are downed.)
I had just got back from Japan. Makes me feel more connected and yet more helpless. And yes, we need to be prepared for such an event here too. We are so vulnerable.
That is very scary. Definitely makes you think. It is just terrifying what has happened in Japan, especially considering that they are a very developed country with all kinds of safeguards against this type of thing.
We get those 5am emergency phone calls all the time here – usually for snow. I tend to think of them as a pain, but I guess we should be thankful that the system is in place…
My brother did some research and found out Seattle is due as their last earthquake was 300 years ago. After what happened in Japan we’ll definitely be looking at housing on higher ground.
That is scary. We are not so near the sea, but quite near to a nuclear power plant. The government have told us to go pick up a pack of free jodium tablets just in case it melts down, too. We live in scary times just now, I find.
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