For my family and friends

(Sorry, I'm using the blog for this message to my family and friends.)

Fiona called this morning and I asked her to pass on messages for everyone else. Thanks for calling her. We are okay.

I was out of the office, at a research center for a meeting. We had a pretty large quake on Wednesday (caused by the same area) but no damage at all from that one. So yesterday I didn't bother about another one, but it just got worse and worse and did't stop. I evacuated to the car park with all the staff, then left after the second big aftershock. More shocks hit as I was driving home, and the only thing to do was stop the car and put on the hazards. It was like the car was being shaken by a typhoon.

K was home at the time but the house is perfectly okay. It is only one floor, not double story like most houses here, and we have no neighbors, so no risk of fire or falling things from other buildings. K had gone looking for me, so when I came home the house had no electricity and the cats were panicking. Now there are in their big cage and are in a foul mood because they've been in there all night. We keep getting aftershocks that are as big as a regular quake, so it was difficult to sleep properly.

K came back and said he'd gone to my office which is a mess. The building seems okay, but when I went to check later, I found everything on the floor. The bookcases are standing because I'd secured them against quakes, but the books had flown out. (Will have to think of a way to keep them in, in the future.) My very new 24inch PC monitor is on the floor, no cracks but don't know if it will work. Phone and laser printer are on the floor too. All the windows there were okay, which is good because the whole side of the office is glass.

The electricity was out in parts of this city until after 11pm, so I couldn't contact anyone. The phones were out, too. From what I've heard, Tsukuba is basically okay, but some buildings have broken glass, and some concrete fell. Apparently it was a lower 6 on the Japanese scale here, which is M 5.5 to 5.9. You can read Wikipedia for the levels.

I don't know what will happen from now. I think we are pretty safe here, but it is probably better not to try to phone. The phone is okay, but if more big aftershocks hit, I don't know how they will be. Anyway, it is better to keep the phone lines open for emergency calls. I'll be on email any time I'm at home. (If the modem is working.)

Honestly speaking, there is really nothing we can do. Our house is secure and we should go shopping to get food if anything is open.

But no matter where you are, please go out today and get a carton of plastic bottles of water. You never know when you will need them. Dry food, too.

a.