Surviving the Great “Hanshin” or “Kobe” Earthquake
5:46am, 17 January 1995.
I will never forget this time, a frozen time stamp that had lingered in my mind until today. For many Singaporeans, it is unimaginable to experience an earthquake, not to even mention one that is more than 7 on the Richter Scale. For those who were in Japan, we could have gone through earthquake simulated drills at schools or organizations, but when one big one struck, it was an experience so bad that one probably would not wish to experience it again. Yet, a tough experience is always the most unforgettable one, especially one that gave me many reflections on life and its meaning.
The night before 17 January 1995, like any other normal evening, I was having dinner with one of my closest classmates just outside my campus, at Ishibashi station, Osaka. Tucking in my favorite Yakitori and beer with my classmate, we were discussing how we would be taking paths of our lives after graduation because we would be graduating in 2 months and I would be returning to Singapore thereafter.
A little drunk with the drinks, I thought I would have a good night sleep after I got back to my dormitory. Just when I was “dreaming” about the world for me would be a whole new one after graduation, I was slightly awaken due some noise/movement, and the next second, I experienced a huge jolt and was thrown off my bed onto the floor. It was extremely dark as it was still very early in the morning. Unable to pick myself up as the ground was shaking vehemently, I was trying hard to look for my spectacles but to no avail. I could not grope for them and suddenly, the room started to toss left and right; and I was swung from one end of my room to the other, unable to control my balance at all. With my human instinct, I started to panicked and ran towards the door, trying to open it so that I could run out of the dormitory. Yes, human instinctive reaction ! It was this time that I realized all I thought of was finding a way to escape, especially from the fear that the building might just collapse onto me.
The “interesting” moment was that the shaking jolt changed its direction, tossing my entire body up and down instead while I tried to turn the door knob. Since the entire building was shaking in tantum, I could only hold on to the knob but the door “refused” to be opened. There I was, stuck in my own room, without my spectacles on, wearing my sleeping attire and trying to get myself out of the room but to no avail. I could not remember how long the quake actually lasted, but it was this precise life-threatening moment that I felt “time lasted really long”.
It was probably after more than 30 seconds that the quake “quietened”, and I was finally able to open the door. Rushing down to the first floor of my dormitory, I saw a few other my dormitory friends were out too, mentioning calmly “Sugoi Jishin dayone” which means “what a terrible earthquake !”. Cracks were seen on the walls of the dormitory and the glass of the entrance door glass was shattered. Totally stunned, but with no bodily harm, I was glad it was just a scare and I was still alive !
Returning to my dormitory room, my instinct told me that I had to make a call back to my parents in Singapore, telling them I was safe, at about 6am Japan time. It was probably the best decision made because the entire city’s telecommunication lines were overloaded and were down for almost 2 weeks thereafter. By the time the day broke after dawn, the entire country was awakened and awed by the news of this gigantic quake at about 7am, Apparently, many people both within Japan and outside were trying to call into the Kansai region. It was not too long that the entire telecommunication lines were dead. (Bearing in mind during that time, there were no mobile phones and even fixed home telephone lines were luxuries for foreign students like myself.) For the next few days, we saw many people started to queue at public phone booths, trying ways to contact their loved ones.
I was almost glued to the TV, in order to get the latest updated information. The news started to play repeatedly about the situation at Kobe, which was one of the hardest hit area and many fires were started. I was later told that the next closest train station to where I stayed was flattened. Lucky for me, I had stocked up enough instant noodles for the next few days, but I decided to go to my university later in the day to see if I could log into my school’s network to do my final year thesis research. The train station was completely closed off, and I was glad that I had my own bicycle which I could cycle to my university.
Once I arrived, I found huge cracks on the roads leading to my university and my faculty’s laboratory clock was hanging half-way, the hands of the clock frozen at 5:48am. Many of the huge bookshelves were strewn all over and it was almost impossible to do my work. Just a few other research fellows came back and all decided to return the next day instead to see if we could tidy up the place.
Returning to my dormitory, I tried to look for some essentials at the supermarket. Even though the shelves for all essential goods, especially breads, instant noodles, rice were all sold out, there was hardly any chaos and all the people were queuing to make payments just like any other normal days in Japan. (Ok, there were still lots of tissue papers or toiletries as far as I could remember). I did not manage to buy any food but I recalled that my “stock” of instant noodles had lasted me over the entire quake.
By day 3, most of the food at the supermarkets were fully replenished. Till today, I still admired how efficient Japan was then. Every other moment, I was staying inside my room, watching the TV most of the time to get the latest update while I tried to do up my thesis. Several after quakes struck at different times of the day and night, and on some nights, I was again awaken suddenly by the slightly smaller quakes. Sleeping became a chore as I had to ensure my spectacles were now put underneath my pillow, and also kept some water and some dry foods, with a torchlight next to my bed. Never had I experienced such anxiety for the next whole week, feeling uneasy since we were told some of the after quakes could be as large. Yet, life did go on, although not as normal, I managed to survive the entire quake and finished off my thesis at the same time.
Looking back what is happening now when the world was struck with Stay-At-Home during this current pandemic from last year 2020, being stuck at home felt like more a luxury today given we have internet access, especially with mobile devices, that could provide both entertainment and food deliveries. However, it was also because of this earthquake that a completely new industry started to evolve in Japan, perhaps one that became the pioneer to the world of mobile internet today.
After this huge earthquake, telecommunication in Japan underwent a huge revolution, bringing on the first ever mobile internet technology ecosystem called i-mode later into the entire industry. Such disaster brought out the best innovation at the time in Japan, and it brought the entire economy to be most forefront in technological breakthrough of telecommunication and the birth of NTT Docomo, the giant of mobile telecommunication till today.
Beyond this, I started to question myself about life and death, given that I had lots of time stuck inside my dormitory room to contemplate. I started to realize that Japan and its people had taught me about tenacity and the helpful character of Japanese people, as well as the orderliness in times of crisis as such. It was this that I realized having a civic mindedness society made a lot of difference, not complaining but accepting the fate, when it comes to overcoming the difficulties in life.
Even till today, I felt I was blessed to survive this terrible earthquake that changed the outlook of my life. It had taught me how precious and how fragile life is, and what we should do to live our best each day, appreciate and treasure every moment with the friends and loved ones, and find the time to meet and interact with family members and friends. I also lost some contacts of my friends’ in Japan after the quake, and I felt terrible. So I believe to live a life of no regret, at least making the small but continued effort to ensure the importance of maintaining friendships and proactively seek out friendships throughout my life.
