Member-only story
Earthquake
and my dream about it
I was born in a city devastated by an earthquake on April the 14th, 1895. I was born on the 15th of April less than a century later. As there was a saying, earthquakes repeat every hundred years, we were educated in school on how to act when an earthquake occurs and stay calm.
We had just moved into our new house and experienced a long period of earthquakes that were too strong not to be noticed. I got used to them. They were a silent threat, but we had to live with them.
Later, I moved to Japan and was aware of the threat of earthquakes. However, I also knew that the new Japanese buildings were well built and should be safe from minor earthquakes.
While living in Japan, I experienced quite a few earthquakes. I observed people reacting very calmly. Although they were crossing roads on the long bridges, which were swinging vigorously, they did not panic. One time, there was an even more significant earthquake while I was giving a jazz dance class, but except for the clerk at the entrance of the ballet academy, none of us dancers felt it. Maybe we were jumping and being in the air while it was happening.
But once I had a crazy experience, you won't believe it.
I slept on a big tatami in the sleeping room, reinforced in the middle of its ceiling. It had a big crossbeam over the…
