Welcome to Japan - a 7.1 Earthquake in Kumamoto

On an ordinary and hot summer afternoon we were walking through the yard at Hoikuen (daycare) to pickup our daughter when an earthquake hit. 4.27pm.

We had no option but to drop down to a squat where we were and wait it out. The shaking was very violent and having only experienced the shaking of a 3.5 before (a late aftershock of the 2016 quake) I didn’t really have any idea wether this was a routine shake or a big one, especially being outside where you don't have objects and furniture flying around like you might do indoors.

The shaking felt like it went on for 30 seconds though in reality it was maybe 10. And then a few seconds in my phone started blaring from my pocket with its emergency alert. Thanks I know, a heads up would have been nice! The shaking felt like an agonising long time knowing our daughter was about 30m away and we wanted above all to make sure she was safe. I was pumped on adrenaline and very calm. Comes with experience of being in a crisis I suppose.

Once the main shaking had passed we entered the Hoikuen where there were howling children everywhere. Fortunately our daughter was OK and unshaken, so we all headed home.

The Shindo ratings of how much the ground shook across Kyushu and beyond

Damage

When we got home the in-laws warned us that we needed to stay outside, as inside the house was a mess with glass everywhere. Being typical of older generations they have acquired a lot of stuff, including lots of delicate stuff placed on display everywhere and cabinets stuffed with far too many glasses and plates that can then all smash onto the floor in an earthquake, which is exactly what happened. The cleanup took a while.

During that time we hung out in the middle of the driveway. It was still a balmy 32C past 5pm, and we couldn’t hang out in the shade under the house eaves in case the roof tiles started coming off to land on our heads if in an aftershock. So we hung out in the middle of the yard in the hot sun, but the safest place to be by far. You never know if there's another big one coming soon after the first.

Damage to the house itself wasn’t too bad. It’s an old house but very well built. The white plaster on the exterior had cracked and fallen away in a number of areas and the concrete on the driveway bridge has a new crack but apparently that's not structural - I'd hope so as it's the only way in and out of the property and it goes over a large irrigation channel.

EDIT I've had to rewrite this next bit two days after the earthquake. I originally wrote it the following day, and the news reports at that time had only reported a few things. notably an explosion at the mall. I had commented that on the face of it that this earthquake overall, despite being of similar strength was nowhere near the scale of damage as the 2016 one 10 years ago. But just a day later, more and more news reports are coming in showing some pretty severe damage and a death count that so far has reached 34. No doubt there will be more unfortunately and it is shaping up to be quite a catastrophic event in itself. It is quite surreal though as we were very close to the worst of the shaking and yet around our village there is only a few signs of damage and even then you would need sharp eyes. For example see below - the storage shed had collapsed but it was long in disrepair, and the local shrine stone Torii gate is cracked at the top making it unsafe to enter.

Damage visible in our village

Magnitude vs Shindo

I learned during that time googling out on the driveway that the quake was a magnitude 7.1, but it was only 10km deep and the epicentre around was very close indeed - 20km away. This got the highest rating of 7 on Japan's Shindo scale which measures the amount of ground shaking - as an earthquake like this being 'only' a 7.1 magnitude, but at such a shallow depth meant the ground shook very violently whereas a stronger magnitude quake 100km deep would not be felt as strongly.

So not a routine quake by any means - Japan as a whole averages 0-2 per year of magnitude 7.0 or above, and for Shindo 7 rated earthquakes like this one, are considered just a few times per decade.

Our proximity to the strongest part.

Supplies cut

The power had gone off and came back on a few times that afternoon, and the cell towers went down once too. Everything came back on pretty quickly by late afternoon and stayed on, which is lucky as no AC would have been very unpleasant given the hot weather.

The water turned bad though. Out in the inaka (countryside) there isn’t mains water. The house pulls water from an underground spring and the quake had polluted it with soil. Fortunately before it had polluted we had filled up every available container with clean water including the bath tub. Still, when you don’t know how long until the water is clean, it can easily not be enough. After running the taps for quite a while the water started running clearer and cleaner - not enough to drink but fine for washing dishes, laundry and showering, leaving the stash of clean water just for consumption.

Tomomi had ordered a crate of bottled water, and the cats food was running low and needed ordering too. I’d just sold something on Mercari swell and booked for Yamato to pickup only to find all deliveries are suspended for now - so we don’t know if we will get that water, or the cats food or how much of a hit my Mercari shipping rating will take! EDIT: Yamato were back at it just a day later. The local trainline is still not running - in fact the train has not moved from where it stopped during the earthquake.

Hoikuen is cancelled until next week too so it's back to child care duties for me until then - but at least our daughter's safety is within our control. As much as it can be anyway.

The main aftershocks plotted by strength and depth

Aftershocks

The following day (29th) had aftershocks in the 2's and 3's dotted around the prefecture all day, with a couple of 4+. For us we will only feel the strongest of those, the 3s and 4s. They are pretty clearly felt too, even if gently and lasting only a second or two, but when each one begins, you stop and hold your breath wondering if it's going to be another big one.

Here is my count of aftershocks from the JMA sight as of 4:30pm on the 29th:

Main quake until midnight on the 28th - 101

Midnight to 7am on the 29th - 53

7am to 4:30pm on the 29th - 41

Total at the time of writing - 195 aftershocks!

Basically the aftershocks have been constant, with many every hour. All through the night we didn't get much sleep for the seemingly constant aftershocks as well as the worry of another big one. The cats found everything very traumatic as well.

In closing

Welcome to Japan! I've only been here 2 months so far and already experience a once-in-a-decade level earthquake and fortunately unscathed.

The silver lining in this is that we certainly won't have any complacency now when it comes to buying and setting up our own home later this year. I even want to have enough land to 'hide' a shipping container on it, as it makes for a good emergency shelter for many types of natural disasters!

As always, thanks for reading and stay safe wherever you may be.