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Japan quake: Tremors were so strong, I fell, say Indian in Tokyo

Swapna was at home with her nine-month-old son when the quake struck. “The tremors were so strong that I lost my balance and fell while trying to run down the stairs with my baby,” she said.

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It’s well past midnight in Saitama, 20 km north of Tokyo, but a shaken Swapna and Prem Keswani are glued to the television, watching the day’s devastation in Japan replay on TV.

Swapna was at home with her nine-month-old son when the quake struck. “The tremors were so strong that I lost my balance and fell while trying to run down the stairs with my baby,” she said.

She knew what she had to do thanks to Japan’s frequent quake drills. But even then, “it was scary.”

Her husband Prem, was in office at the time. “We were having a meeting. As mild tremors are common in Japan, we waited for a few seconds for it to subside. It continued for two or three minutes and things settled. But 15 minutes later, a much stronger tremor struck. Flower pots fell and the drinks we held spilled,” said Prem, 33, an IT consultant with Unikaihatsu Software Pvt. Ltd, who has lived and worked in Japan for seven years.

The crack that formed in his first floor office left no room for doubts about the quake’s severity. This happened, despite the fact that Saitama is hundreds of kilometres away from the epicentre in the Pacific Ocean.

Prem found it difficult to get through to Swapna as mobile phone services seemed to have collapsed. “Our mobile phones started working only two hours ago. The earthquake had created a panic wave and the only way I could communicate with my friends and family was through messages I posted on Facebook,” said Prem.

“I was lucky to reach home early. Trains stopped functioning after the earthquake and they will not start till all tracks are checked for cracks. I managed to reach home because I had a car, but some of my colleagues had to walk home, for nearly five hours,” he added.

The Keswanis are normally asleep by this time. But they know Friday night is going to be a long, long night. They entered their flat only after it was declared safe to enter and they are now glued to the TV. “Mild tremors continue. We keep listening to all the instructions they are giving on TV. We do not want to take any chances,” said Swapna.

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