Yugawara, Kanagawa Pref. ¨C When an earthquake hits, there¡¯s a moment, a few seconds in, where you ask yourself, ¡°Should I panic?¡± That was me on March 9, 2011, the Wednesday before ¡°the big one.¡±
The 11:45 a.m. quake , which I felt with a hard thump in my apartment in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, where I was living at the time. I ran downstairs to my landlord¡¯s place in a panic, but he assured me there was nothing to be concerned about. He told me I¡¯d know for sure when a real quake hit.
Two days later, at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, the real quake hit ¡ª a magnitude 9.0.
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