I was caught up in a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on my exchange in Japan

No matter how much control you think you have, it’s an illusion that can break at any moment.

For me, it broke drink in hand after singing Mariah Carey’s ‘We Belong Together’ at a karaoke bar in Japan. I had been out with other exchange students on the night of April 16th when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Kumamoto, in the island of Kyushu.

I was living in the city of Beppu on the other side of the island, where we felt every shake and watched a huge crack go from the wall to the roof of the karaoke place, to a part of my brain that went “hah, this is it.”

Taken on a calmer day, free of earthquakes or the like

Partially drunk and confused, we tried thinking “what to do?”, which was a terrible idea because there was no comforting answer. Recalling middle school geography classes we thought: earthquake in sea, equals tsunami, equals death, equals oh my god. Most of us had just arrived to Japan; 3G was expensive, free Wi-Fi quite rare, and also it was around 12am so we were in the dark to what was going down.

In a better-safe-than-sorry survival approach, we went uphill for a few blocks and went into the tallest hotel in the city. The lobby was empty and the staff clearly shaken by the earthquake. No one took notice of the partially inebriated exchange students, but eventually a managerial-looking Japanese man came over.

Heavy breathing, worried eyes, struggling to gather English words to let us understand what to do, he said the funniest thing I had heard that hour: “BIG WAVE”.

APU is high enough on a mountain to be absorbed by clouds on certain days

Naturally, we ran up 18 flights of stairs at a speed I’m not sure I’ll ever reach ever again. Fear of death does that to you I suppose.

On that 18th floor was a very small utility closet where we sat and waited for updates. Aftershocks were common and every time one would happen I would grip the stair bars with such force. A Swedish friend next to me sensed my worry and told me we were going to be fine, which were comforting words in the darkness of a hotel utility closet. 

But in a room full of strangers, who do you ask for their phone so you can call your parents and tell them you love them? How do you then deal with their worries and all the things they think have to happen? It’s a strange world to live in, where we know where every Kardashian is right now but have no idea how to predict an 7.0 earthquake.

Eventually we were told the epicentre was inland. No tsunami alert. A girl who kept saying “I don’t want to die in Japan” felt quite foolish after. We left the hotel and went for some food at a 24-hour convenience store that, against all odds, was still open – go figure Japan.