👋 Konnichiwa from Tokyo!
Late in the evening on Monday, I was jolted awake by the feeling of the room shaking. Having lived in Hawaii and Turkiye, where earthquakes are quite common, I thought I knew what was happening when I felt the shake. I started to hear murmurs of conversation around the usually-silent capsule hotel room.
"Was that an earthquake?" I started to hear the word for earthquake in various languages as heads poked out of the capsules.
Sure enough, it was!
I checked my earthquake app and I was able to quickly see that a 7.5 earthquake had hit Hokkaido, which is quite far from Tokyo, but it was strong enough that we were feeling it on the 7th floor of our hotel.
A friend reached out on behalf of a producer at Hawaii News Now and that is how I wound up speaking with a reporter about my experience on the evening news back in Hawaii!
In the hours that followed, I checked in on friends and students from Aomori and Sapporo. One student’s family in Aomori evacuated to safety at City Hall until the all-clear was given around 2am, but thankfully everyone was safe.
Japan has issued a "megaquake alert" and urged people to take extra care in the next week or so, although we have only had a few smaller aftershocks from the same area. I did also feel a 4.7 magnitude quake on Friday evening that hit closer to Tokyo, from the bottom floor of my hotel!
This experience made me realize I should update my post about how to stay safe when traveling during a natural distaster to include tips for international travel. I added my personal checklist for what I do to stay safe and to access accurate information in the wake of a disaster, even when language barriers may get in the way.
👉 Have you ever experienced a natural disaster while traveling? Hit reply and let me know if you've got tips to share!
