All About Earthquakes!

Today, April 4, I met with Eiko again. We met at the TCU Bookstore for a cup of coffee before my classes started. It was nice to chat with her without her daughter.  It’s easier to talk to her that way.

We only had about an hour, but it was plenty of time.  We started with small talk about our weeks. She asked me how my test the previous week went and I asked about her weekend.  She told me that they took Haruka to see Disney on Ice in Dallas.  I’m not going to lie, I was a bit jealous of that.

Again, I asked about her family back in Japan.  They are still fine, but worried about the water.  This led to talking about earthquakes.  I’ve never experienced one myself, but Eiko is a pro.  She said it happens all the time, something I had heard but it never really hit home for me.  She also explained that they had earthquake drills in school, just like we have fire and tornado drills. 

I thought it was interesting how different our conditions are in America as opposed to Japan.  In Japan, they are used to earthquakes.  They require earthquake drills in schools and build their buildings stronger, among many other precautions.  These are concerns that most Americans don’t have.  Not once have I woken up thinking, “I wonder if I will experience an earthquake today?”

I asked Eiko how frequent earthquakes happen in Japan.  At first it took her a while to understand the question, but then she finally started to figure it out.  She said about one every other month. I was not expecting that at all! She explained that because of Tokyo’s location, if the center of the earthquake is in north or south Japan, Tokyo will feel a little bit of the quake in addition to the earthquakes that are closer to Tokyo.

The last thing she said about earthquakes was that it is being predicted that the next earthquake off the coast of Tokyo will be a large one.  No one knows when or exactly how big, but apparently it’s supposed to be a real doozie.  Apparently Tokyo is taking precautions, but there is no way of knowing how much should be done.

All in all, it was a great meeting.  We have already scheduled our next two meetings.  Eiko seems very excited to meet with me each time and I feel the same way.  It’s nice to take a break from school and chat with her because she has so much to share.  Today she told me that she appreciates me helping her with her English speaking and that it really is helping her.  That really meant a lot to me.