Gas

I've waited in line for gas for three days, and I still haven't gotten any gas.  The main supply route--both trains and trucks--ran through Sendai.  All shipments to our area have been re-routed up the west coast through Akita and over the mountains.  The best mountain roads run into Morioka.  South of Morioka all of the mountain roads running to the west coast are narrow, often only one lane.  I would NOT want to drive a semi over one of those puppies.

Everyday some grocery stores are opened.  Everyday maybe one or two gas stations get fuel.  People wait in lines for hours for ten or twenty liters.  I've waited in line for three days.  The first day I was unprepared.  I didn't take water or a book.  The line was over a mile and a half long.  I waited an hour and moved less than 100 yards.  I gave up.

On day two, I took coffee, a snack, and a book.  I was about a quarter mile from the station when I pulled up at 6:40am, well before the station should open.  The line crept forward...far too slowly.  Then  a man walked by with his arms in an "X."  No gas. 

Today, I got in the wrong line.  No gas.

We are so lucky.  Some people I know only got power back yesterday.  Many people still don't have power or water.  Many people don't have homes.  Many people lost their families.  We're some of the fortunate ones.  We have food, gas to cook with, and water to drink.  Kerosene for heaters is harder to come by, but we have coats and wool socks.

Many people are panicked.  Several foreigners I know have broken contract and left with less than a day's notice.  People in the the US are getting information filtered through the media.  All you see is a burning nuclear reactor and the devastated coastal towns.  A few miles inland and the damage isn't so bad.  A nearby town was hit fairly hard.  A lot of the older buildings were damaged, but I haven't heard of anyone being hurt or killed.  If you have family in the area, please don't panic.  Ask them for an honest assessment of their situation.  As little as ten miles can make a huge impact on the situation someone is in here.  Keep calm, encourage your family and don't listen to CNN.  Go to BBC or NHK World or Japan Today.  Japan Today is up and down (I think their servers might be getting hit by rolling blackouts in Tokyo).


Our town had a few broken windows, but I didn't hear any reports of fires or collapsed buildings.  Now we just have to ride out the shortages and keep an eye on Fukushima.

With so little gas, there is very little traffic.  It begins to feel eerie.  Many students don't come to school because their parents don't have gas.  Pretty soon, a whole bunch of Toyotas and Mazdas are going to be very fancy pieces of sculpture.

It's hard to believe how much our modern world relies on gas.  Without gas for trucks, grocery stores are closed.  Without gas, workers can't get to work, so stores don't open.  Gas really is a corner stone of our economy.

Please don't worry about us.  Our area is relatively okay.  We're far enough away from Fukushima that a meltdown isn't really an imminent threat. 

I'm going to write a post soon about what I think is important for preparation before this sort of thing happens.  Stay tuned and thanks for keeping us in our thoughts and prayers.  So far, we're doing fine.