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The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

By: Muditha

Family Tree

Author’s Note

In 2011, March 1st, there was a shaking in Sendai, Japan. This earthquake struck all around Japan. We felt it in Tokyo. We had been living there for 2 years. My father had moved to China due to his work situation, and he had come to visit us. My sister was in school, American School, in Japan. We had been in Costco, and were about to leave to go pick up my sister. We were on the Highway when that awful shake happened. Luckily, our family was together. It took 7 hours just to get back home, but we fled to China five days after.

In Costco, there were four shelves of items that killed four citizens of Japan. This was the fifth largest earthquake since 1900. The amount of confirmed foreshocks was 6.0, 6.1, 6.1 and 7.2. There were 401 aftershocks after that horrible day. An earthquake this bad hit the plate of Japan 1,200 years ago.

Historical  Narrative

 “Hey  Muditha,  you  want  the  new  Wii  game?”    I  asked,  

tantalizing  him  by  waving  a  New  Super  Mario  Bros  game  in  

front  of  his  face.

His  ecstatic  face  turned  upside  down  and  became  

sorrowful.  That’s  what  made  my  heart  sank.  He  made  his  

face  into  a  little  dog  pout  face.  

“Yes,  oh  yes  please.  Pretty  please,”  pleaded  Muditha.

“Get  good  grades,”  I  said  with  a  smirk  on  my  face.

“Humph,”  exhaled  Muditha.

“Hey,  since  it  is  the  week  off  for  Muditha,  why  don’t  we  

go  pick  up  Upeksha  from  school?”  said  Arosha.  

 “Do  we  have  to?  I’m  tired,”  complained  Muditha.

“No!  We  don’t  want  Upeksha  to  come  home  on  the  bus.  

On  the  plus  side,  she  won’t  come  all  grouchy  and  tired,  

complaining  about  how  annoying  the  elementary  kids  are,  

since  they  have  no  respect  for  her  being  a  bus  monitor,  ”  I  

said,  relieved.

 ‘VROOM,  VROOM!’  went  the  car  engine  as  my  husband  

started  the  car.  

“Let’s  embark  on  an  adventure  to  pick  up  our  daughter,”  

I  said  jubilantly.  

“Wow,  you  really  have  to  stop  watching  adventure  

movies,”  said  Muditha  glumly.  

‘Haaaah,  Japan  is  an  amazing  place  to  live.  If  we  move,  I  will  

miss  it  forever.  Man,  think  about  moving  to  China.  What  a  

roller  coaster  that  would  be.’  I  thought  as  we  drove  down  the  

highway.  Just  as  I  was  dozing  off,  a  sudden  breeze  threw  my  

beautiful  hair  backwards  into  a  clump.  My  heart  skipped  an  

extra  beat  in  that  excitement.  

“AHHHHHH!”  screamed  Muditha.

“Sorry  my  elbow  hit  the  small  black  pushy  thingy.  My  

clumsiness,”  I  said.

 “Ya  mom,  we  really  get  what  you  mean  by  small  black  

pushy  thingy,”  Muditha  sarcastically.  “You  meant  to  say  

window  opener  right?”

“Woah,  what  just  happened?”  said  Arosha.  All  the  cars  

were  moving  back  and  forth,  trying  to  make  their  way  to  the  

side  of  the  highway.

“That  wasn’t  me.  The  car  is  moving  by  itself,”  said  my  

husband  in  a  confused  voice.  

It  seemed  like  an  evil  ghost  possessed  it.  I  couldn’t  hear  a  

single  car  horn  

“Arosha,  what  is  happening?!”  I  screamed  in  fright.

“I  don’t  know,  but  we  should  get  out  of  here,”  he  said  

worriedly.  

All  the  buildings  were  shaking;  the  people  didn’t  seem  

to  panic  that  much.

“Oh  my  gosh!  Is  this  an  earthquake?  Is  Upeksha  okay?  

She  might  be  seriously  hurt!  ”  I  said,  alarmed.  Horrifying  

images  of  destruction  ran  through  my  head.  

“What  if  the  school  has  collapsed  and  has  crushed  her  

while  she  was  in  class!”  I  tried  to  hold  back  my  tears.  

  “Nothing’s  gonna  happen  to  your  one  and  only  

daughter,”  said  Muditha,  rolling  his  eyes.

“Ok,  ok.  Maybe  I  exaggerated  a  bit  too  much!”  I  

exclaimed.  

 At  that  moment  my  phone  rang.  “Hey,  it’s  Upeksha,”  

   “Hello…  Are  you  ok?  Is  everything  all  right?  Did  you  get  

hurt  at  all?  We  will  be  there  as  soon  as  possible.”  I  put  the  

phone  down  without  even  letting  her  talk.  

“Ammi,  you  didn’t  even  let  her  talk!  You  said  everything  

so  fast,”  Muditha  complained.

“Oopsies?”  I  said.

We  quickly  sped  down  the  road  to  rescue  Upeksha.  When  we  

got  there,  I  sent  Muditha  into  the  school  to  pick  Upeksha  up.  

  “If  they  don’t  let  you  guys  come  out,  text  us  and  we  will  

come  in  and  wait  with  you  two,”  said  Arosha.  

“Ok,”  Muditha  said.  

Arosha’s  phone  started  buzzing.    

Of  course  Arosha  was  right.  We  had  to  go  inside.  After  an  

hour  of  waiting,  Upeksha  was  supposed  to  take  the  bus  

home,  but  I  convinced  her  to  come  with  us  in  the  car.

The  car  revved  into  life  and  off  we  drove.  As  I  said  before,  

“let’s  embark  on  a  journey  home.”

Interview Questions and Answers

What are three things that happened in your life that is Historically Significant? • Sri Lanka Tsunami, Eruption of Civil of civil riots

in 1984 and the 2011 Japan earthquake/tsunamiDid you witness the Japan Earthquake? • YesHow many different earthquakes did you witness? • On that day onlyWas the first on the actual one? • No, it was just the starterWas the second one the actual one? • YesHow did that affect you? • First I was scared that we wouldn’t get off the

highway. Scared if the highway would collapse. Scared if we didn’t have enough time to get out of the highway

Where were you at that very exact moment?• At my children’s schoolWhat did you do after that moment? • We had to wait till the school gave Were there any traffic jams?• YesHow much?• A lotHow long was the car ride back home?

• Usually it would take forty minutes to get there but since of traffic it took seven hours.

Were you with your whole family?• Fortunately yesWhere were your children before the earthquake? • My son Muditha was with my Arosha and me.

And my daughter Upeksha was in school.What school did they go to? ASIJ. American School in JapanWhat was going through your head at that moment?• If my daughter was ok and whether we were

going to be safe. For all four of us to get together.

What did you do after the earthquake when you got home?• We first checked if anything was damaged and

get our earthquake bags ready and got all the stuff we needed to have a quick get away.

Had anything happened to your house when you got to your house?• Only on lampshade was broken.

Did you flee Japan after that natural disaster? • Not right after but yes.Where to? To Shanghai, China

Facts

Fifth-largest Earthquake since 1900Magnitude= 9.0!One reason that this had happened was due to the speed that the Pacific Plate was continuously thrusting beneath Japan1,200 years since an Earthquake hit the plate of Japan401 aftershocks Confirmed foreshocks at about 6.0, 6.1, 6.1 and 7.2

Reflection

1. I learnt that their life before this natural disaster she had been through a lot. Working on this project has actually impacted me a lot because if she died in any of those of those historical events I would have not been here. This has also brought out a lot of my identity, because I can tell and show what my parents have been through and be proud of it.

2. I think it is important because it shows the teachers that you can write and use your imagination. I also think that the teachers want us to write this because they want us to know what our parents have been through.

3. I enjoyed writing the Narrative because it really brought out the writer inside of me.

4. My main challenge was that I had to write in my moms footsteps, and I am a boy. I overcame it by always thinking like my mom. Even though that seems a little bit weird, but it actually helped.

Bibliography

Snyder, Whitney. "Japan Earthquake 2011." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 Mar. 2011. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/11/japan-earthquake- tsunami_n_834380.html>.

Benz, Harley. "USGS Newsroom." USGS Release: USGS Updates Magnitude of JapanÂ’s 2011 Tohoku Earthquake to 9.0 (3/14/2011 5:35:00 PM). USGS, 14 Mar. 2011. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2727>.

"Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011." World Book Student. World Book, 2012. Web. 8 Nov. 2012.