Escape From Fukushima

On March 12, the day after the earthquake, after an anxious sleepless night, I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I tried giving my mother a phone call and it connected unexpectedly. I didn’t want to worry my 79-year-old mom, so I just told her that everyone was okay and we had no damage, I said goodbye and hung up the phone.

I turned on the radio and heard another big earthquake happened that morning in Nagano, central Japan. They said it has nothing to do with the earthquake that hit the east-north Japan the previous day, but I felt like the globe was shifting or changing drastically and that terrible events would continue to happen more in Japan. I was terrified and shivered in fear.

I also had heard that hundreds of dead bodies of Tsunami victims were found in Namie Town, our neighboring town, and thousands in Miyagi prefecture, the north prefecture of Fukushima. The radio broadcasted the same, uncertain news over and over again because nobody knew the full extent of the damage from the earthquake, it was extremely frustrating.

That day was the monthly scheduled visiting day that my ex had with my kids. He came to our place just before 8:00 a.m. as he promised me the previous night.

Usually, my ex took my kids somewhere to entertain them like Toys R Us, a shopping mall, a second hand shop, or a restaurant, but he decided to stay home with us that day. He said that we should check where the town distributed water or where the nearest evacuation shelter was, so we went outside to find it out.

It was a bright sunny, beautiful mid-March Saturday morning and I felt the fresh air on my face. It was warm. The five of us were walking outside, and I was thinking that we looked like a nice family and it was kind of funny because I had never walked with my ex husband after the divorce till then. I had no work scheduled on the day, so I was relaxed and despite some small aftershoks, it was a peaceful morning.

We walked to the Kawamata Minami primary school which was a 10 minute walk from my place. There was a Social Welfare Association building next to the school and Government personnel were busy working there. I asked them about water distribution places and evacuation shelters. They told me that we can get water in the municipal building downtown, and also that all the schools in town had turned into shelters for refugees from other neighboring towns, Namie, Minami Soma, and Futaba, because of the evacuation order. I thought the evacuation order was from the tsunami at the time, but it was actually because of the radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Futaba town moved their municipality functions to one of the Kawamata schools. I saw a few people hanging a sign to lead refugees to the school. I was shocked and surprised at the large impact of the earthquake. I felt sorry for all the refugees that I saw, but I didn’t realize at the time that it was also my problem and that I was about to become a refugee as well.

The radio repeatedly broadcasted that the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s coolant system wasn’t working and the nuclear fuel was in unstable condition, but there was no radiation leakage. But that was a lie.

The Asahi Newspaper revealed in October in 2011 that the Government detected an extremely high, 15 micro Sv/h radiation (normally 0.02 micro Sv/h) at 9 a.m. on March 12  in the Namie Town, just 15 km from my place. The Government even detected Radioactive tellurium which was emitted only when the nuclear fuel temperature reached above 1000 degrees celsius. TEPCO, the electric company, started venting radioactive air to release the pressure in the nuclear fuel containers to prevent the hydrogen-air chemical explosion  at 10:17 a.m. on March 12, but tellurium was detected 30 km away from the plant one hour before the vent. All those things meant that the nuclear fuel had melted down way earlier than we were told.

We were walking ignorantly and unknowingly into a highly radioactive plume without a mask. No one knew how serious the situation was at the time, except TEPCO and the Government. Radiation has no smell, or no color, I was shocked and terrified when I found out that we were exposed without any protection, to a radioactive plume that was 750 times higher than normal.

After coming back home and listening to the radio news about Fukushima Daiichi plant, my ex said, “Japan is a country of earthquakes, so they shouldn’t have built so many nuclear power plants in Japan. I think it should be okay here, but we should measure how far the Fukushima power plant is.” I was a little surprised to hear those words because usually my ex was far from critical about the Government policies. He asked my kids to bring a geography textbook they were using at school, found our local map, measured with a plastic scale, and calculated that our place was 42 km away from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

I felt very uneasy listening to the nuclear plant’s news. I tried not to take it too seriously, until the Government would order the evacuation of our town. I wanted to believe that everything would be okay.

I was fast asleep when someone banged on the door. It was about 10:00 p.m. and I had been asleep for a couple hours when I heard a man’s voice shouting something. I thought it was a volunteer firefighter who came to warn us or check on us, but it was my ex husband.

He was worried about us because we couldn’t communicate with our phones. He drove for an hour from Koriyama, Fukushima to check on us.

When I opened the door, he asked “Are you guys okay?”

I answered in a sleepy voice, “Yeah, we were just sleeping. “

He said, “Oh, sorry to interrupt your sleep. I’ll go then. Bye.” and he was going to leave.

“Wait!” I stopped him, not knowing what to say.

“Are kids all right?” he asked.

“Yes, they are okay, just scared though.” I answered.

“Does your vehicle have gasoline?” he asked.

And I said, “Actually, no. I was going to fill up today but the gas stand in the town was closed and I couldn’t fill the gas.”

He said, “I saw a few gas stands open on the way from Koriyama, one on Route 4 and one in Iino Town. Do you know where they are?”

“Uh, well…” I mumbled.

“Do you want me to drive there and fill up the gas for you?” he offered me.

“Thanks!” I said, I was relieved.

He said, “Gasoline is the first thing that becomes a shortage in this kind of situation. Okay, I”ll go now. How much gas is left?”

I answered, “The empty lamp is on already.”

He said “Really? Hmm, I’m not sure, but anyway I”ll try.”

“Thank you.” I answered

Then hearing our voice, my younger son woke up. “Oh dad? Why are you here?”

“I couldn’t call your mom, so I came to check on you guys to see if everyone’s okay.” he replied.

My younger son said, “We are all okay, just some stuff dropped off from top of the cupboard. Dad, are you gonna stay overnight?”

“No, I’m going to fill your mom’s vehicle with gas now, then I’ll go back home. Go to bed, son.” he said.

“Okay. You will come tomorrow, right?” my son asked. The next day was originally his visiting kids day once a month.

“Of course. Good night then.” he said and then left.

No less than 15 minutes, he came back.

I was surprised at the short time it took him to return. He told me that he turned around half way to the gas stand because he was worried the gas in the car was not enough to make it there. It was the right choice as he saw all the gas stands were closed on the way home that night.

I went to bed again, but big aftershocks woke me up many times in the middle of the night. Every time an aftershock occurred, I looked around, held my breath, wondering if I should wake up my kids and take them outside.

While I spent a sleepless night, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, nuclear reactors’ fuels had started to melt down. No TV, no internet, no phone, so there was no way I could know of the imminent disaster that was about to happen. Even more, I was ignorant. I had never worried about the Fukushima power plant before 3.11. Of course, I didn’t like the idea of nuclear power and radiation, but I had never given a deep thought on Fukushima Daiichi before. I drove and passed by the plant twice before, but it was about a 1.5 hour drive, so I didn’t think it was close to our house. I regret my ignorance now. The Fukushima nuclear power plant was 42 km away from my house as the crow flies, and it was very close.

Fukushima nuclear power plant has 6 reactors and on March 11, 2011, Reactors 4, 5, and 6 were shut down in preparation for re-fueling. However, their spent fuel pools still required cooling.

When the 9.0 Magnitude earthquake struck at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, Reactor 1, 2, and 3 automatically shut down. As the reactors were not able to generate power to cool the nuclear fuels, emergency diesel generators had taken place to to power the coolant system. 

But after the earthquake, some facilities had already become damaged, a 13 to 14 meter (43-46 feet) high tsunami hit the buildings 50 minutes after the initial earthquake, and it flooded the plant’s turbine building and destroyed the emergency diesel generators for Reactor 1 to 4. 

Since no coolant system was working, the water level to cool the nuclear fuel decreased more than 10 meters, causing the core temperature to soar from 300 to 2800 degrees celsius in Reactor 1. 

The plant operator, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company), reported later in December, 2011 that a meltdown started at about 7:50 p.m. on March 11. That was just when my children and I had fallen asleep! TEPCO also reported that all the fuel melted down and went through the concrete reactor container (“Melt Through”) at about 6:50 a.m. on March 12. How horrible!

The Government ordered residents within a 3 km radius of the Fukushima Daiichi plant to be evacuated at 9:32 p.m. on March 11, and expanded the order to a 10 km radius at 5:44 a.m. But the Government spokesman Edano repeatedly said, “This is a “just in case” order. There is no radiation leakage.”

I am so angry at the fact that they didn’t tell the truth and the evacuation order didn’t include us. I witnessed the Government tell us so many lies about the Fukushima nuclear accident after 3.11. Looking back, if I knew the truth, I would have evacuated immediately. I couldn’t help but experiencing regret and resentment. 

On our way home from the daycare, I stopped by a gas station. Every Friday the gas station had a “double point” promotion, so I was waiting for Friday to fill up the gas, although I knew I was running short of gas the previous day. It was a stupid idea. On that Friday, the earthquake happened, and I couldn’t get the gas. Because the whole town had blacked out, the gas pumping machine didn’t work. When I got to the gas station, it was dark, roped off and closed. What a disappointment! Yet I was optimistic, hoping that I could get gas the next day.
How was I to know that the gasoline shortage would last almost a month after the earthquake. Since then, I would fill up the car with gas as soon as it got to half a tank. A full tank of gas could get me from Fukushima to Tokyo.

We went to a grocery store near the gas station. It became like an open-air market in the parking lot. The staff was busy taking goods out of the dark inside and displaying them on tables in the parking lot. I asked one of them if they have batteries and gas cylinders for a portable gas table. Soon he found them. I was impressed that the staff remembered all the prices. They couldn’t use cash registers, so they used a calculator and they rounded down small numbers, which I appreciated about local businesses.

Finally we arrived home, It was a single-story townhouse. From outside, it had no sign of collapse or cracks. I would have expected a mess, from broken glass or shattered dishes inside. I told my kids to be prepared, not taking off their shoes. But Surprisingly, there was no mess. Just some stuff dropped off from the top of the cupboard. At a closer look, I found some cracks between pillars and walls, but overall the house was okay. In Kawamata, a municipal building collapsed and many houses lost a majority of their roofing tiles as a result of the earthquake. In my friend’s house, her cupboard fell and almost all the dishes broke into pieces and ironically every time an aftershock occurred the remaining unbroken dishes broke. So I was very lucky, maybe because of the flat shape of the house, it was strong against the strong vibrations, swaying and shaking.

Fortunately, the water tap was working, so I filled the tub, kettle, bowls, and all the pans with water just in case the water stopped working later on. I found a bug out bag I bought 4 years ago, and took out a portable radio and few flashlights.

There was no cell phone signal, and I didn’t have a land line. Even I had one, the phone didn’t work because of the massive blackout. So there was no way to call my mom that we were okay.

It was getting dark after 5:30. p.m. There was no electricity and once the sun set, it became colder and colder. I had a gas heater and an oil heater, but both of their igniters were electric and without electricity I could not start them. it was very cold and all of us were shaking. I had my kids bundle up with as many layers of clothes as possible. I did find a small portable butane stove, which I used to boil water to make instant noodles. It warmed our bodies as we ate the noodles. It was March, so the coldest time of the year had passed and I believed we could survive.

No light except the flashlights, no TV, no heater, no cell phone signal, no land line, nothing to do, so we went to bed (actually it’s futon mattress). My kids were chatty with a flashlight in each hand, while I was listening to the radio. The news about Tsunami went on and on. Hundreds of bodies were found on the Miyagi shore. Nobody knew how bad the whole damage by the earthquake was. Many aftershocks occurred again and again, and every time, my children and I looked at each other, half getting up, wondering if we should get out of the house. Eventually we fell asleep before 8:00 p.m.

It has been 10 years. 3.11 has an enormous meaning for me and many Japanese. It was on March 11, 2011, exactly 9 and a half years after the 9.11 terror attacks. That’s when Japan was hit by a large, unprecedented 9.0 Magnitude earthquake and Tsunami. I have never been as terrified as I was that day, and never imagined I would have to evacuate from my home of Fukushima.

Suddenly, the world around me began to fall apart. I felt my body shaking hard, and heard the pig barn shaking and making big rattling sounds. I was working at a large pig farm in Kawamata Town, Fukushima, Japan.  I was in charge of 240 pregnant pigs and 2,000 newborn piglets with 4 of my coworkers.

I screamed “Earthquake!”  and my co-worker Suzuki and I looked at each other in the face. We were feeding and checking on pregnant pigs in the barn. Suzuki was very mean to me when I started working there, we disliked each other, so we didn’t say anything at the moment of the earthquake. The immense shaking continued and didn’t stop at all. The whole barn and the metal feeding pipes were rattling and making cracking sounds, and soon we had a blackout, so I knew it was a huge earthquake. I was afraid that the building would collapsed, so did Suzuki although we didn’t speak, and both of us ran out of the barn as fast as we could. It was 2:46 p.m. on March 11th, 2011, and all the pigs were screaming and squealing like I have never heard before.

Just outside of the barn, there was a 15 feet tall, 4 tons feeding storage tank and it was swinging hard, too. I ran away as fast as I could and sat down on the ground. It was too shaky to stand up still. I recognize myself as a strong, independent person, but at that time, I was just horrified to death. I thought I was dying, and mumbled “I’m scared! Scared!” in my mouth. It felt like the earthquake lasted forever and I thought the whole globe might crack and tear apart. No, actually it didn’t, but the first earthquake lasted for 5 minutes with a break. The pig farm was surrounded by mountains, and I could see rocks and stones were falling from the shaking mountains, and lots of cracks ran all over the place. I was very fortunate to be alive, not injured at all.

I saw a truck traveling at a high rate of speed coming down the slope. This was driven by my other coworker, Masahiro. Normally, he was a happy man, who often joked around, but at the time the look on his face was extremely serious. I thought he was racing to check on the pigs, but later I learned that he dashed back home to check on his wife and children. Knowing that, I felt ashamed of myself for not going home to check on my children immediately after the earthquake. I believe in God and believed that they were safe in school.

It felt like unreal. I was in shock and freaked out. My boss made us check around the farm. In the dark from the blackout, we lit torchlights on, and saw many cracks and broken pipes, but no buildings were collapsed. We couldn’t work in the dark and without electricity, and many smaller earthquakes were still happening, so I decided to go home. When I entered an office, cups and dishes were broken and pieces were all over the floor, and the office ladies were cleaning up. I started to worry about my children, so I didn’t help them and went home. The whole time in the pig farm, it was like I was not myself.

The pig farm was at a top of a mountain, and 15 minutes away from home. The winding road was narrow and there were some cracks here and there, but there was no blockage and I reached the town safely. Seeing the traffic lights off, I knew the whole town had a blackout.

The very lucky thing was, Kawamata is surrounded by mountains and away form the sea shore, so Tsunami didn’t hit us. More than 20,000 people’s lives were taken by the Tsunami, but nobody died at the time of the earthquake in Kawamata.

I was in a hurry to the daycare, but on the way, I saw some people standing in line outside of a convenience store, so I decided to go there first. As a single mom, only I was in charge of getting food for my 3 kids. All rice balls and sandwiches were sold out, so I grabbed instant cup noodles, some salads, delis, and water. There was no panic, and people were polite and making neat two lines silently. Someone was talking that they couldn’t use water and gas in their apartment .

When I finally met my children, I was so relieved. My two sons were scared but excited, and my youngest, my daughter was almost crying. I was the second last parent to pick up children at the daycare, and I regretted again. The last girl picked up by her father right after us kept sobbing.

My two sons, 11 and 10 at the time, told me that they were in their classroom at school when the earthquake happened. They shoved themselves underneath their desk, and eventually teachers led them to the schoolyard. They were shaky but okay, they said.

But my daughter, 8 years old, was walking towards the daycare center with her classmates, terrified with her first and huge earthquake experience, and froze in the middle of the road. Then a flower shop lady came out and patted my daughter’s shoulder, hugged her and her friends, saying in a kind voice “This is awful. You must be terrified, but everything will be okay. It’s all right.” My daughter saw a Ramen restaurant sign fell down and concrete masonry walls collapsed next door of the flower shop. After the shock, she and her friends were able to walk to the daycare again.
If I knew their experiences, I would have rushed from my work. I feel like I always have affection issues because of my parents who abused or ignored me when I was a child.
We headed home, still shaking and in shock.