Ground Report

Posted by Hanako Tokita for Global Voices Online

On June 14, an inland earthquake reaching M7.2 on the Richter scale struck the Tohoku region of Japan. In Iwate and Miyagi, the hardest hit prefectures, 10 have been confirmed dead, about a dozen are missing, and more than 200 people have been injured. Although the death toll was relatively small, given that the areas in the vicinity of the epicenter are mostly mountainous, the ground acceleration level during Saturday’s earthquake was recorded at 4,022, the highest ever observed in Japan.

Video taken on June 16th from a helicopter of changes after landslide caused by Iwate-Miyagi Inland Earthquake (Mainichi)

Blogger mique writes:

もろに6強をくらった実家でしたが，親兄弟は無事だそうです。道路×・鉄道×なので，連絡が取れたのは助かりました。て か，地震起きた瞬間ちょうど親と電話してました。電話の向こうからガチャガチャ音がしてものが落ちているのがわかりました。テレビ見ていて，生まれた市の 名前が連呼されててなんだか変な気分です。母方のおばあちゃんがけがをしたらしく，すごく不安です。

"My hometown was hit hard by an upper 6 tremor, but my parents and brothers are fine. The roads and railways were not working so it was good that I got a hold of them. I was actually on the phone with my parents when the earthquake happened. I could hear a rattling noise from the other end of the line and knew that things were falling. It feels strange to hear the name of the place I was born when watching TV. I heard that my grandma from my mum’s side got hurt, and I am really worried."

Blogger shinamon describes their experience of the earthquake:

けさ、私の住む宮城県を含んだ地域で、
大きな地震が発生しました。
そのとき、私は仙台駅のホームで東京行きの
新幹線を待っていたところでした。
大きなゆれで、かなり怖かったです。

"This morning a huge earthquake hit areas including Miyagi prefecture, where I live.
At that time, I was on the platform at Sendai Station, waiting for the Shinkansen bound for Tokyo.
The tremor was big and I was very scared."

[…]

新幹線が動き出す見込みがつかなかったので、東京行きは
断念。
駅を出て、そのまま職場に向かうことにしました。私の職場は、
土日も学生がアルバイトとして勤務しているのです。
タクシー乗り場に行くと、ガラスが散乱していました。
ホテルの上の階のガラスが割れて落ちてきたようです。
幸い、ケガ人はなかったもよう。
職場の建物も学生さんも無事でした。

"It didn’t seem that the shinkansen [bullet train] would start running, so I gave up on going to Tokyo.
I decided to leave the station and go straight to my office. At my office, there are part-time student workers who come to work even on the weekend.
When I got to the taxi terminal, there were pieces of broken glass scattered around.
It looked to me like glass windows in the upper levels of a hotel had broken and fallen.
Fortunately, no one was hurt.
The building where my office is located was okay, as were the student workers."

もともと、宮城県は地震が多いところです。
ただ、地震の震源はたいてい宮城県沖か岩手県沖。
内陸震源は少ないんです。ただ、2年ほど前に、宮城県
内陸震源の震度６強の地震があったとは思いますが。

"Miyagi prefecture is a place that gets hit by earthquakes frequently.
However, epicenters are usually located off the coast of Miyagi or Iwate.
There aren’t a lot of them happening inland, although I think there was an inland earthquake [that measured] lower 6 on the Seismic scale a couple of years ago."

また、宮城県は30年以内に大地震がくる確立が90％と
言われています。でも、今回の地震はそれではない気が
します。

"Also, it is said that there is a 90% chance of a huge earthquake in Miyagi within the next 30 years. But I don’t think today’s earthquake was it."

Blogger simatyu describes their reaction to the earthquake:

時間が経つにつれ被害の大きさが見えてきました。山１つ丸ごと崩れてしまっていて驚きと怖さを感じます。
そして考えてしまうのは同じ規模の地震が東京に来たらどうなってしまうのだろうということ。
考えるだけでも恐ろしくなります。東京都心直下型の大地震が来ないことをただただ祈るばかりです。
また、被災された方々が早く元通りの暮らしが出来るようになればよいなぁと思います。

"As time goes by, the magnitude of the damaged has become clear. I feel astonishment and fear that a whole mountain collapsed.
What I cannot help thinking about is what would happen if an earthquake of the same scale hit Tokyo.
Just the thought of it scares me. I can only pray that no epicentral earthquake will ever hit Tokyo.
Also, I hope that those people who were struck by the earthquake will be able to go back to their normal life soon."