How can I EVER forget this day?
And already 16 years have passed...
I remember I shared with my Russian friends on vkontakte, what happened on that day. I feel like it was yesterday that I wrote about it...
So once again, I would like to share it with more people.
To my Russian friends; I am copy and pasting it so you will be reading this again)
It was 5:45am in Japan.
(At that time I was still living with my parents, except that my brother was in Miyazaki, my dad was in Tokyo. Only me and my mom in the apartment.)
I heard the newspaper man putting the morning paper in our postbox so I knew it was early morning. It was so cold so I felt like going to the toilet. I started to get out of bed...when...at 5:46am...there was a quake.
"Oh, it's the earthquake again. Ok, come on!" I thought.
But it didn't end! It got even worse. I just had to hold on to my bed otherwise I would be thrown out of bed. I could just not move nor hide. Just closing my eyes and let the earth move...I was living on the top floor, 6th floor of the apartment. God, I really thought the whole apartment was going to collapse.
It ended after a few minutes...there was silence...
It was still dark so I called my mom! "MOM! ARE YOU OKAY?"
She didn't answer!! Oh, no!!! I just had to go to her room. I just ran to her, I called again! She didn't say anything..."OH, don't you say you're gone!" Then I heard a slight voice saying, "Saki-chan..." She was under a bookshelf. I just had to drag her out. She smelt like whisky! Oh, yes, dad had put whisky on that shelf)))
We just did not know what to do...Early winter morning in Japan, it's still dark. No electricity, no flashing lights nearby so we just had to wait. Then the next door neighbor banged on the door."Are you guys okay? We must go down stairs"
Of course the elevator was not working so we rushed to the first floor. Everyone didn't understand what had just happened. Somebody brought a radio.
Then we knew what had happened. It was the biggest earthquake ever happened in Japan!!! And it was sooooo cold....
Then the sun rose...It was cloudy but we could see.... Mom and I went back home and we just lost our words...No burglars could ever make such a mess. All the rooms were a disaster. My piano had moved, all the books were fallen out of the shelves. All the shelves, chests, refridgerator, TV, audio sets, furniture had flown all over the place. My mom's expensive Wedgewood collection broke into pieces...
How could we ever clean the house?
One thing very strange was that where I had run on bare foot to save my mom, there were glasses everywhere, and do you know what? I didn't even get a cut or a bleed!!!
Our life began without any information, no electricity, no water, no gas, for days)))
We had to go to the nearby school and wait for the self-defense force to bring water but we were so mad that they came too late!!! Not a big help, huh?
The Emperor and Empress, and celebrities came with the TV crew to give some nice words but you know, we didn't need any! If you want to come and do something, help us with our everyday life!!!
My dad, brother, friends were so worried but the telephone line was disconnected so there was no way but to actually come to check us out. But it was hard for them to come too, because the train wasn't moving...
I don't know how many weeks had past but with a aching back and exhaustion we managed to survive and I had a chance to walk around the neighborhood and God, what a scenery!!! All the Japanese-style houses were collapsed, flowers were placed in front of the entrance (which means people had died), buildings had lost it's first floor, some buildings and houses had changed their shape, and the air was so smoky and dusty...
And when I finally looked at the newspaper and watched the news on TV, I could not say a word! Our beautiful city Kobe was like as if it was struck by a bomb or had a war. Black smoke, fire, freeways were in a disaster...
I remember checking the newspaper everyday to see the long list of people who had died from the earthquake. The only way to check if my friends were safe. And one girl from junior high school had died...
16 years had passed since the earthquake. My hometown has completely changed. All the houses look the same. I liked how it was before the earthquake.
We are living a normal life now. But for me, for us who had experienced that earthquake cannot forget this day...
Since the earthquake, I think I have become very strong, mentally. Learned how to live in a disaster...
It's so good to be alive...
And one thing which really frightens me still is that if my dad had not gone to Tokyo the previous day of the earthquake, he would've been still in the apartment but definitely be squashed dead under the heaviest closet...
Every time I come back to Nishinomiya, my home town, the city is changing...And what we had before is dissapearing...Well, that you can say "moving on"...but in our hearts, the ones who have experienced the earthquake, will never go away...I am still scared of the smallest earthquake and the dark...
I was not myself this morning. I am sorry...
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