“You’re starting to panic”: Quebecers in Japan recount the powerful New Year’s earthquake

Quebecers living in Japan were quite frightened during the deadly earthquake of January 1 which sowed panic in several regions of the country.

Pierre-Hubert Leroux lives in the town of Fukui located approximately 180 km from the epicenter of the powerful earthquake of 1^er January.

The Montrealer who has lived in Japan since 2019 says he is used to the shocks which are “frequent” in this country. But this time it was different.

“It’s the first time that during an earthquake, I was afraid,” confides the 33-year-old man about the 7.6 magnitude earthquake which left 78 dead, according to the latest report. more recent.

“When things started going down in my apartment, I was like, oh, my god, this is serious! You curl up in a little ball, as far away from the windows as possible,” continues the man who teaches English in the Land of the Rising Sun.

After about 30 seconds of shaking, he immediately grabbed his survival backpack, which the authorities recommend having on hand in this country where natural disasters are frequent.

“Panic” atmosphere

He took out his small emergency radio to listen to the first reports of what had just happened.

The Japanese keep fresh in their memory the 2011 tsunami which left more than 18,000 dead in the northeast of the country. The fear of seeing this disaster happen again was quickly on everyone’s lips as tsunami warnings were issued.

“On the radio, they shout and tell us to keep in mind that it could be as bad, or even worse, than 2011. So there, you start to panic even more,” relates Mr. Leroux.

Fortunately, he later learned that he did not have to evacuate his home and that his town had not suffered significant damage. However, he had to inform numerous relatives in Japan and Quebec that he was safe.

“It wasn’t brewing any worse”

In Tokyo, the capital located more than 300 km from the epicenter, Nikola LeBel felt the shock from his hotel room.

“It wasn’t getting any worse. There was a dresser with a little key and I saw the key swinging.”

The Quebecer originally from Outaouais immediately worried about the place where he lived, in the Akita prefecture located on the west coast in the north of the country.

“When we are far from home and there is a tsunami warning, I was not able to know what it might look like.”

He also noticed a very alarmist tone among journalists and news anchors.

“We saw them shouting on the air: run away, remember the last tsunami [en 2011], don’t be stupid. They really pulled out all the stops. Perhaps we were able to avoid a greater number of deaths with this panic effect,” believes Mr. LeBel.

With the major accident between two planes occurring the next day at Tokyo airport causing five deaths, the two Quebecers noted that the atmosphere had been rather gloomy for several days.

“A lot of people say the year is off to a bad start. The atmosphere is a little heavy, especially here [à Fukui]», summarizes Mr. Leroux.