Earthquake in Tokyo / 東京で大地震

I imagine most of you have already seen the news. Japan was hit with a 8.8 Magnitude earthquake today in the afternoon. Although the epicenter was up north, the quake was felt in Tokyo as well. I usually work on Fridays but I had taken this day off and was sitting at home talking to my mother on the phone when our couch started shaking. As we get a lot of little earthquakes, I didn't give it much thought. But when the shaking starting to get stronger and didn't appear to be stopping, I had to tell my mother that I have to get out of the part NOW! and will try to call back later.

みんなはもうニュースで見てると思いますが、今日の午後、東京で大地震がありました。地震の震源地は東北の宮城県のほうでしたが、東京の揺れも凄かった。通常の日だったら、私は仕事に居るはずでしたが、偶然でも今日は休みを頂いておりました。ちょうどうアメリカに居るお母さんと電話してる最中ち小さな揺れが感じてました。そういうのはなんどもあったから、最初はあんまり気にしてませんでした。でも揺れが段々強くになって、お母さんに話しを急に切り、“あっ！地震だ！”と叫んで、嫁と一緒に外に出ました。

When the quake finally settled and I went to check inside our apartment, I found our bread basket and toaster oven on the floor, and our microwave had fallen upside down in our kitchen sink. The large bookshelf and television were unharmed but my collection of mini cars on the bookshelf were scattered all over the floor. Our cd shelf held up for this earthquake as we fixed it after the last large quake we had which helped spill hundreds of cd on our floor. A few other knick-knacks were fallen off of various shelves but nothing major was broken. The only damaged sustained was our microwave oven (but it was still usable). But we couldn't relax after the first large quake because we kept getting these aftershocks every five to ten minutes afterwards. Which makes it hard to relax because you just don't know if this quake is going to be an even bigger one. It's already been about six hours since the first big quake but we're still getting aftershocks even now.

地震が治まって部屋に戻ったら最初目に入ったのは冷蔵庫の上にあったブレッド・バスケットとトスターオブンが床に落ちてた。そして、電子レンジがキッチンシンクで逆さまになってた。リビングにある大きいな本棚とテレビは無事でした。本棚に飾ってたミニカーたちがほぼ床に落ちてた。以前に大きいな地震があった時、CD棚が壊れて、何百枚のCDが落ちてたが、その後、CD棚をもっと丈夫に固定して、今回は崩れてません。いろんな置物が落ちましたが、私たちには怪我もなく、大きいな被害もございませんでした。電子レンジだけがちょっと傷つけられたくらいでした。でもちゃんと使えるので、困ることがありませんでした。リラックスする暇もなく、なんと５分が１０分後何回も余震があって、揺れが中々納めない状態でした。もう六時間が過ぎてますが、今でも余震がつづいてます。

Fortunately, we do not live by the coast. As we watched the news of the tsunami that hit the coastal towns of Northern Japan. The number of fatalities has already surpassed 50 and there are still many people missing. In Tokyo alone, the quake had caused no less than 10 fires. There was also a large fire at an oil plant in Chiba Prefecture. There is still a large tsunami warning for the entire Western coast of Japan. There is also speculation that there may be one more large quake sometime this evening. I hope that's not the case.

私たちは梅の近くに住んでないのがよかった。ニュースを見たら、東北地方で津波に呑まれた街が結構ありました。現在犠牲者も５９人までのぼってます。まだ行方不明の人は何人もいるみたい。地震の影響で１０件の火災も発生しました。千葉県の石油の会社で爆発もあって、まだ燃え続いてます。現在でも太平洋側の日本に大津波警報が出ております。ほかにまだ今日の午後より強い地震の予想もされてるらし。

The first thing I saw when I went back into our apartment. The microwave on top of the fridge had also fallen off and I found it upside down in the kitchen sink.

部屋に戻って最初に見た光景。先ほど言いましたが、冷蔵庫の上にある電磁レンジがシンクで逆さまに落ちてた。

About five years ago when we had another fairly large quake (not as large as this one), the shelves collapsed and we found hundreds of cds scattered throughout the floor. Fortunately, we re-enforced the shelves so that wouldn't happen again and am proud to report that the shelves held up. Of course, a bunch of loose items fell off the shelve though.

五年前くらいにまた別な地震があった時、CDの棚が崩れて、床に何百枚のCDが落ちたことがあった。その後、棚を強く固定して、今回の地震にちゃんと耐えた。ま、置物が落ちまたけどね。

As you can see, our bookshelf and television were unharmed, except for the little avalanche of my mini car collection and a baset of DVD-Rs.

見れば分かると思いますが、うちの本棚とテレビは無事でした。床に自分のミニカーコレクションな雪崩があった感じだけでした。

Star Wars space ship thought it could really fly and crashed to the ground while the Jawa's sand crawler crawled off a cliff and fell as well.

スター・ウォーズの宇宙戦艦が本当に飛べると思ったら、床に墜落。そしてサンド・クローラーも崖から落ちた！

My wife and I survived the quake just fine. The only damage received was our microwave, but as I said, it was still usable.

私たちは無事でしたが、怪我したのはうちの電子レンジのみ。壊れてなかったので、この後に夕飯をちゃんとチンして、食べられました！