Surviving our First Earthquake

Well, just when I thought that we were in the clear, and that our time here in Japan would be completed earthquake free, it happened. On April 13 at approximately 5:30 AM we were awoken with a little surprise.

Emergency notification, sent out to all phones in Japan
in the instance of an earthquake.  

When I first felt the bed begin to shake, I honestly thought that maybe Nathan was just moving around. I opened my eyes, and saw that the sun was up. I turned to look at Nathan, who had turned to look at me and we both realized simultaneously that the other one was not the cause of the shaking. Nathan was the first to verbalize, "It's an earthquake!" We both jumped up out of bed and started running. Where to, I am not really sure. Neither one of us have any clue what to do in the instance of an earthquake, so I guess our instinct was just to get up and panic. 

My Dad was staying with us at the time, so I ran to his room to make sure he was okay. I said, "Dad, it's an earthquake, what do we do?" His response was, "Go back to bed." He was obviously slightly calmer then myself or Nathan, who at this point was trying to unlock the door and run outside. Now I am no earthquake expert, but I dont think that exiting the house directly onto an 8th floor balcony is the correct response. I actually had to stop him twice from running outside. He walked away from the door the first time and as soon as I turned my head to talk to my dad he was bolting back at it! Picture all of this happening in a matter of only a few seconds. I imagine it would have been pretty comical scene to watch. Later in the day when things calmed down I asked Nathan what exactly his intentions were once he got outside and he said he was going to make it down our 8 flights of stairs and to the ground in case our building collapsed. A flawless plan, right?

Turns out the earthquake was a 5.8 magnitude that occurred on an island about 35 miles away from us. There were no reports of any serious injuries. And thankfully no tsunami warnings followed. I am so thankful that the earthquake occurred early enough in the morning so that we were at home. Had it occurred later in the day we could have very easily been caught on the train which would have been terrifying. Luckily Japan seems very prepared and equipped for emergencies like this.