2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake Black Out

We had an earthquake in Japan. This is our experience.

Earthquake experience

Earthquake experience

When

In the early morning (3am) on 6th of September 2018.

Where

Hokkaido where is the North island of Japan.

We were in Sapporo city where is the capital in Hokkaido.

The biggest damaged town was Atsuma. They had a landslide.

The moment magnitude scale was 6.6Mw.

Deaths 41
Injury 691
Destroyed House 462
Broken House 14,170

What happened

In Sapporo

Shaking a lot! We were awakened by it!!

But we didn’t get hurt and nothing was broken around us, luckily.

First, we woke up and thought about how to escape from the house. In Japan, we have many training for earthquakes at schools and offices. If it happens we need to open a window or a door.

But it lasted only 30 seconds. So we checked some information on internet by a mobile phone and went back to the bed again.

Second, the aftershock happened and there was a blackout which lasted for 2 and half days.

It made many problems.

Problems

Personally, we had a flight booking on the same day as the earthquake to leave from Japan and go to Thailand. Also we had a booking on Airbnb.

And Joe’s (My English boyfriend) tourist visa was expiring on the same day.

An unfortunate coincidence.

The black out was the biggest problem

Can you imagine what is working by electricity?

Lighting
TV, Radio
AC
Fridge, Freezer
Phone charging
Wi-Fi
Petrol station
Credit card terminal (It means cash only)
ATM (You can’t withdraw)
Electricity cooker
Some toilets (In Japan, there are many function on toilets including flushing by electricity)
Water heating
Lights at crossings
Public transport

How we managed

Lighting

We used candles and slept early.

TV, Radio

We have a portable radio with some batteries. We could hear some information by it.

The volume wasn’t loud enough so we put the cardboard inside of a toilet roll on the speaker, it makes the sound louder.

Radio is only listening, I wish I could have some information by seeing.

In the evening on the same day, a one or two pages of newspaper was delivered.

I could confirm a lot of information by seeing.

Luckily, Hokkaido is the North island where is the coldest part of Japan. We were fine without AC even in the Summer.

If it was in the Winter… OMG!!

Fridge, Freezer

It was a big concern, especially for shops and restaurants. They have a lot of foods in a fridge and freezers.

Some shops gave free ice cream because of they couldn’t keep them. We got many ice cream and ate 3 per day!

At home, we needed to cook something from the fridge to use stuff ASAP.

Our home uses a gas cooker, but my grandma’s house has only an electricity cooker. They couldn’t even heat water so we shared some cooked rice with them.

Phone charging

People panic about it! Some emergency power was working such as the council buildings. They opened the office building for charging phones. So so so many people went and lined up for charging.

We have some laptop which is fully charged to be ready for the trip. We could charge our phones off of their battery.

The mobile date such as 3G, 4G were working sometimes, but they were so weak.

The mobile company Docomo had signal, but other companies didn’t have.

Public phone was free to use for this emergency situation.

Wi-Fi

No WiFi. I realised how much I’m using internet a day. No internet is almost same as no information.

Petrol station

Petrol station uses an electrical pump! We couldn’t refuel. When the station opened, there were massive queue and wait for hours.

Credit card terminal

You might be surprised, some shops were opened for people who need food.

We weren’t sure how long we would have this situation. Many people were worried about stored food and went to supermarkets, shops and convenience stores.

The credit card terminal is working by electricity, so we couldn’t use the cards. Had to pay by cash.

ATM

Then, you want to withdraw right? No No! ATM is working by electricity too!

We couldn’t withdraw cash either. People looked for cash in every pocket and everywhere in the house.

Electricity cooker

Some houses have electricity cooker. My grandma’s house too . They couldn’t cook.

We know an old lady is living by herself with electricity cooker. We went to the house with some food. But her house got electricity back earlier than our area and she was fine. Also she has many veges at her garden. So she gave us many veges. We’ve tried to help her but she helped us…!

In this situation, people help each other a lot even unknown people.

We saw a notice which says “feel free to charge your phone, we got electricity back!”.

We were impressed. Joe was standing in front of the notice to take picture. The house owner asked him if he wanted to charge.

Toilet

Japan is the best toilet country in the world. There are so many functions on the toilets. Wash your butt, makes some sounds/song, open lid…. And flush!

My parents home has also flush by a button which is working by electricity! It didn’t work!

We brought a bucket of water to the toilet and poured it in. Then it was the same as flushing.

Water heating

Water heating is by gas but the gas system is working by electricity too.

We boiled water at the kitchen and used with cold shower. We took shower in the daytime. It was fine because of in the Summer. If it was the Winter… NOOOOOO!

Lights on the streets

It was dangerous without lights on the streets. Some police officers were standing at the crossing and gave us sign to go and stop.

We saw some car accidents.

Public transports

The buses didn’t work until the lights on again for safety reason.

The trains run by electricity. They didn’t work neither.

What was scary thing?

Actually we were not sad at all. We were playing a board game Monopoly Japanese edition.

Walked around in the town, ride a push bike to my grandma’s house and some places.

Some people had BBQ because of we had to cook food from fridge ASAP.

Stars were beautiful because of no lights.

Then, what did we worry about?

We were no idea when the electricity would be fixed. Do we have enough food?

Also some wrong informations were scary.

On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter… Someone said “another bigger earthquake would come to Hokkaido again soon.” We couldn’t know which information was right and which was wrong. It was so scary.

Nice people

Some area had electricity back earlier than our area. We went to the area to use Wi-Fi to send a message to Airbnb host because we were supposed to check in two days before.

Then a person came to ask “Do you need help? If you don’t have place to stay, we have extra rooms.”

People care about each other even though they had a hard time too.