Over the years, Hollywood has perfected the successful disaster movie formula to 6 plot points. And my real life experience never deviated from these 6 well worn clichés:
#1: Start with a foreshadowing that is ignored, or gives a false sense of relief
All that week, seismic activity had been higher than normal, and there was talk that these were all foreshocks to a bigger event. On Wednesday, the 9th, I was in a meeting on the 5th floor of Nissan's 22 story, glass and steel, ultra modern global headquarters in Yokohama, when a 7.2 quake hit. We paused momentarily as the building shook. Someone in the meeting joked that this was finally a test of the seismic soundness of the less than 2 year old building. Then we resumed the meeting. We were all pretty cavalier about it. I remember posting a flippant comment on Facebook about my Diet Coke splashing. We all walked out of the room thinking that the predicted big event had occurred, and the activity would die down.
Early Thursday, there were several quakes in the 5-6 magnitude range. Surely they were aftershocks from the 7.2. As Thursday moved to Friday, things settled down, and it seemed as if that was that.
#2: Portray the catastrophic moment of terror in slow motion, as seemingly normal people become hysterical idiots and behave irrationally.
On Friday, I was back in Yokohama, luggage in hand, as I planned to attend 2 client meetings, then depart for Narita Airport for my redeye flight home. My first meeting ended at 2:30 PM. With the next one scheduled for 3:00 PM, I decided to head to the 5th floor visitor area in between meetings. My colleague and good friend Russell happened to be there as well, so we sat down and began to chat. At 2:46 PM, the building began to shake again, much like it had on Wednesday.
But it wasn't the same. The shaking continued to intensify. Time stood still. I watched in horror as the glass and steel building twisted back on itself. The ceiling, floors and walls were all moving independently...in slow motion. As the floor undulated, it was impossible to stand. I became an hysterical idiot screaming, with no sense of irony, that we were all going to die. In a last ditch effort to save myself from the weight of the collapse of the 17 floors above me, I dove under a 1 foot round plastic table, trying to decide which body parts were the most important to protect.
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| Nissan Glass and Steel Headquarters |
#3: Show panicked crowds running down the street
After the shaking subsided, Russell calmed me down, and he and I wanted out of the building. We ignored orders to stay put, and ran down a 3 story, non-working escalator, then down 2 more flights and exited the front of the building, where we were greeted by police waving at us to get out of the way as they pointed towards the sky. As we looked up, we saw a huge construction crane teetering at on the edge of the top of the 20+ story building that was under construction next door. We ran across the street, not really knowing what our next move was.
As the excitement seemed to die down, Russell and I decided to walk to our agency's satellite offices around the corner. A minute into our walk, a 7.0 aftershock hit. We were met by a wall of people running frantically in the other direction, as the crane began to creep precariously closer to the edge. We turned and ran for our lives with the crowd. Luckily, the crane managed to stay aloft.
#4: Show chaos and gridlock in the aftermath
Dazed and confused, I retrieved my luggage from our offices. I was to take a train to Narita, but found out all train lines were shut down pending inspection. I then tried to get a bus, only to find that they were not running either. Taxis were banned from the streets. I returned to the office, where colleagues Chris and Masa joined Russell and me. We tried to communicate with our friends and families to no avail. The aftershocks were coming every few minutes, rattling our already unsettled nerves. Chris and Russell lived in the Tokyo area, and Masa lived somewhere in between Tokyo and Yokohama. All were anxious to get home. I just wanted to be anywhere but there.
At 7PM, with no alternative, we decided to walk the 30+ kilometers back to Tokyo. The scene outside was epic. Gridlock, and crowds of people walking past the stalled traffic. We walked past convenience stores with empty shelves. We saw women lined up outside shoe stores, ditching their heels for 'sensible shoes'. And we ran into people selling their bikes for top dollar to those desperate to get home.
#5: Tell the stories of people coming to each other's aid, and relying on pure adrenaline and basic survival instincts to persevere
The 4 of us were quite the sight. Russell and Chris in suit, tie and dress shoes, carrying their briefcases. I had changed into my running shoes, but had my roller suitcase and 20 pound backpack to carry. Masa was the only one with comfortable shoes and no extra baggage. We wound our way down streets, some of which were pitch black, due to power outages, blindly following our iPhone maps, which through some miracle were still operational. We switched from Chris's phone to Russell's when Chris' battery died. We communicated with family and friends through Facebook, tracking our progress as we walked.
As we climbed stairs to access pedestrian overpasses, the guys took turns helping me with my bags. They made me promise that if my wheels failed, I would ditch the suitcase and abandon some of my favorite shoes. At some point, Masa turned onto a different route, and Chris, Russell and I marched on. The temperature was falling, and none of us had warm coats on. The guys had blisters on their feet. My back was aching with the weight of my backpack. At some point in the walk, we realized that we had not eaten much all day, but the only thing we were able to buy along the way was a bottle or two of water.
After almost 3 hours, we stopped to rest, and realized we were only a little more than halfway there! We were demoralized. We saw a bus stop, and realized that busses were running. But after about 5 full busses passed us without stopping, we realized we had no choice but to resume our walk.
#6: End with the main characters dead tired, but finally feeling safe
Finally, when we were less than 5K from our destination, I felt I couldn't walk any more. By this time, Russell and Chris had helped me a bit with the backpack, but after running on adrenaline for almost 6 hours, we were all sapped of our energy. Miraculously, the gridlock lifted, and a vacant taxi appeared! We climbed in.
Russell offered for me to stay with him and his wife Dawn that night. Dawn had been alone in their apartment with their dog, Ranger, since the earthquake. She met us at the door with glasses of Flowers Chardonnay. We could smell the huevos rancheros that she resourcefully prepared for us, with ingredients from her cupboard. As we drank a bottle or two of Chardonnay, the aftershocks seemed less menacing. Finally, in the early hours of the morning, we were calm enough to finally get some sleep.
And so, the movie ends.
Epilogue
The next day, I tried to get to Narita, but after spending 5 hours in a taxi and only progressing 13K, about 1/5th of the distance to the airport, I asked the driver to turn and take me to a hotel. Feeling that the $100 fare on the meter was inadequate for 5 hours of gridlock, I tried to give him an additional $100 to compensate him for his time. However, tipping is not part of the Japanese culture. Instead of making him feel better, I actually had insulted him. He threw the 10,000 yen back at me, and cursed at me in Japanese.
On Sunday, I was able to get to Narita, where thousands of stranded travelers had been camping out for 2 days. My elite airline status bumped me ahead of many who were waiting, and I was able to get a business class seat on direct flight back to Sydney. Home just in time to celebrate my 18th wedding anniversary.
PS, I have no plans to star in any more disaster movies.
THE CAST:
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| Russell: Calmed me down after the shaking stopped |
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Chris: Dragged my luggage for miles despite severe blisters on his feet |
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| Masa: Lifted my bags up many steps at pedestrian walkways |
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| Dawn: Nursed us back to health with chardonnay and huevos rancheros |
