An international student's experience of 'under the bed' avoiding earthquakes

 An international student's experience of 'under the bed' avoiding earthquakes

From under the bed, seeing books on the shelves clattering, bowls and chopsticks clattering, Kieu May, a Japanese international student, frantically tried to call her parents for help.

Around 11pm on October 7, when she was about to go to bed, 21-year-old Nguyen Thi Kieu May suddenly found her house shaking, glass doors crashing violently. Not having time to figure out what happened, Cloud continued to hear a strange sound in the phone ringing. Although confused, she still tried to pay attention to the content of the warning in English.

Video recording the earthquake on October 7 in Saitama city, Japan. Video: Kieu May

"Oh, there's an earthquake," Cloud realized, quickly grabbing his backpack and hiding under the bed. From under the bed, she saw the books on the shelf clattering to the floor, the clinking of dishes and chopsticks. The dire images of the 2011 earthquake disaster flashed through his mind, making Cloud tremble. The female student tries to hold on to the phone.

"I didn't know what to do, the feeling was indescribable. At first, when I couldn't hear the warning on my phone clearly, I planned to call my parents in Vietnam," said May, who now lives in Saitama city, a grandmother. Oh Tokyo, tell.

May is currently a freshman in Human Resource Management, Tokyo International University. Photo: Character provided

May is currently a freshman in Human Resource Management, Tokyo International University. Photo: Character provided

About three minutes later, the earthquake ended, and the female student at Tokyo International University heard the sound of an evacuation loudspeaker from outside. She got out of bed and ran all the way to the evacuation point at her school, a five-minute walk away. In the street, police, firefighters and plumbers were present.

Arriving at the schoolyard, May saw a large number of Japanese people, each carrying a small bag, with a worried face. Some international students carry nothing but cell phones. The scene at that time made Cloud think of disaster movies: it was dark, everyone was panicking, talking about what had just happened.

After a few hours of waiting, everyone was allowed to go home. But Cloud could not sleep because of the announcement that there could be an even bigger earthquake this week. The magnitude 5 earthquake that day caused many water pipes in Tokyo city to burst, a train in Chiba Prefecture derailed, but fortunately there were no casualties.

Three weeks later, at 6 o'clock on November 1, Cloud was working in his room when he heard the sound of glass doors crashing together, the light switch wires spinning and swaying. Knowing there was an earthquake, I grabbed my bag and ducked into a safe place. Clouds no longer panic, but lay still waiting for the evacuation notice.

This time the earthquake was weaker, about 4 on the Richter scale, so there was no need to evacuate.

For more than two years in Japan, female students regularly experienced tremors of a few seconds but of mild intensity and barely felt anything. Cloud said that the last two earthquakes were the real earthquakes.

Going to Japan to study abroad since 2019, Cloud has been reminded of earthquakes by everyone, but I don't care too much. The earthquake on October 7 made Cloud "wake up", realizing that he could not be subjective. Later that day, the Hai Duong girl learned more about earthquakes and looked closely at the 2011 disaster to react more quickly when encountering a similar incident.

Cloud said that the Japanese government's warning is pre-installed on people's phones, not broadcast in advance, but will vibrate almost simultaneously with the earthquake. In the first week of university, international students like May are often equipped with knowledge and help prepare mentally for an earthquake. They were asked to prepare a lightweight bag with food and important documents.

Living alone in a rented apartment, May keeps a backpack with drinking water, dry food for 2-3 days, passport, identity card and alien card on his bed. From time to time, I take out the item to check the expiration date.

"Earthquakes are no joke and when it happens, the feeling is terrible. Therefore, when going out, international students should pay attention to the signs about the nearest earthquake and tsunami evacuation place," May said.