Dumaguetenos living in Tokyo, Japan are slowly readjusting to life in their new country following the magnitude 8.4 earthquake last Friday off Honshu, 248 miles northeast of Tokyo, that killed more than 1,000 people (it is expected to top 10,000) and causing a still undertermined amount of damage to property.{{more}}
Carla Maxino-Koseki told the Dumaguete MetroPost through Facebook that she was heading home in a subway train when the earthquake struck.
Although Tokyo is relatively far from the quake epicenter, buildings swayed, forcing people to run to the streets.
Subway trains also stopped, forcing Maxino-Koseki to walk back to her office at the 9th floor of the Philippine National Bank Tokyo to await the resumption of the train service, which resumed at close to midnight Friday.
Maxino-Koseki said she soon received text messages from her son and daughter assuring her they were safe. She and 12 officemates chose to stay the night in their office to avoid the rush of people wanting to go home.
She said this was the first major earthquake that she experienced in her 27 years of living in Japan. But it was more than that. Television news reports say it was the strongest quake to hit Japan since 1900.
She said the lessons learned from an earthquake are: do not panic, have some canned cookies, emergency goods or supplies, bottled water and extra batteries for mobile phones. í¢â‚¬Å“If possible, always carry a charger,í¢â‚¬ she wrote.
Another Dumagueteno now living in Japan, Ed Macavinta, said earthquakes are part of everyday life in Japan. í¢â‚¬Å“But this time, it is devastating and huge! Letí¢â‚¬â„¢s continue praying for everybodyí¢â‚¬â„¢s safety.í¢â‚¬
There are over 200,000 Filipinos living in Japan, mostly in the Tokyo and Osaka areas.
