life more beautiful: The Japan Quake (1): It begun at Narita

Japan’s most powerful earthquake on record, measuring 9.0 in magnitude on the Richter scale, struck on March 11 at 2.46pm local time (1.46pm Singapore time, 0646hrs GMT). That led to my third visit to Japan in less than 6 months, but the latest was a truly surreal experience.

I was on the 2pm shift that Friday, and I went into office thinking that the main Japan story of the day would be about allegations that Prime Minister Naoto Kan received donations from a foreigner. That was a juicy story, given that Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara had resigned over similar allegations just a week ago.

But as soon as I started up my office computer, news alerts about the earthquake started flashing on our internal messaging system. That was soon followed by warnings of tsunami across Japan’s northeastern coastline, and then for other Pacific Rim countries. And the television images from NHK started to appear on all the main international news channels. The most striking one showed how the flood water from the tsunami engulf a vast tract of farmland in Fukushima prefecture, sweeping away cars and tractors with its sheer force.

Needless to say, the Straits Times Foreign Desk kicked into top gear. In the end, we flooded our readers with more than 20 pages of coverage (inclusive of full page ads) on the unfolding disaster in our Saturday edition. We even delayed our usual early deadline on Fridays, to allow for more up-to-date and extensive reports.

I was told around midnight that day that the paper was sending me and two others to cover the event in Japan. I was naturally thrilled, yet anxious about whether I would be able to do a good job. But the worrying had to wait – we barely had time to pack and then head down to the airport to try getting on the earliest flight out.

We got lucky in the end and managed to take the first flight out, at 9.40am. The Singapore Civil Defence Force team of five were also on the same flight, coincidentally. They would be helping Japanese police with search and rescue operations, with their five well-trained canine assistants.

Hoping to hitch a ride to the disaster area with the SCDF, we stayed with them at Narita Airport for the night.

That night, I saw a side of Narita I’d never seen before. Shops were all shuttered up, although it was not that late yet. Stranded passengers sleeping all over the place, from behind airport counters to massage chairs to the sides of the many hallways. And airport staff were up and about through the night, distributing blankets, food and bottled water to anyone in need.

Meanwhile, all the big television screens were broadcasting NHK’s round-the-clock coverage of the earthquake and tsunami.

Next part here.

Members of the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s five-man team loading their dogs onto the airport trolleys at Narita, drawing many curious looks from other travellers.

Many Japanese journalists were waiting at the airport, hoping to interview foreign rescue teams arriving there.

The Limousine bus services, which are popular with travellers heading out of the airport, were not operating that day, probably due to road closures induced by the earthquake.