One week after the earthquake

久しぶりの更新ですが、元気でやっています。たしかに東京でも大きな揺れでしたが、建物には被害もなく、そして私の家も本などが散らばっていた程度で、PCをはじめとする精密機械も無事でした。

It has been one week since the big earthquake. Immediately after the earthquake, the trains were completely stopped, and I, who work in the city center, was forced to go home on foot. The distance from my office to my house is about 24km, but I was able to stay calm more than I expected because

• 普段車を乗っているので都内の道をよく知っていた
• マラソンで体を鍛えていた
• 同様に24kmという距離がどのようなものなのかすぐに想像できた
• iPhoneをWiMAXで利用できた
• Twitterによる交流、情報収集が常にできた

I think it was because of the marathon. I still think that the marathon had a big effect on me. If it had been before, I might have been astonished at this distance.

The difference in values that I realized again

Now, I feel like my life after the earthquake has completely changed the way I look at the town and the way I interact with people. It was a week when I was able to catch a glimpse of the « Japanese character » in both good and bad ways.

How to act in emergency situations, how to deal with them, how to treat people, and how to think about work.

Of these, what puzzled me the most was the difference in perception between those who are « familiar with social networking sites and the Internet » and those who are « TV-centric and newspaper-centric for information.

The way we receive information about the disaster situation is completely different.

For example, in my case, among the friends I met through twitter, especially through the « Sagittarius, the Grain Valley Ward Orchestra » held last summer, some of them were actually affected by the disaster, and I can learn about the situation there through the posts of some of the members.

This makes us feel more at ease with ourselves than we ever thought possible.

I know the current situation is still very difficult, but I am encouraged to see their « appearance » on twitter as they are gradually getting back to their daily lives.

But on the other hand, if you look around the city, you can see many people hitting up supermarkets here and there to buy up food and daily necessities. Even though I don’t usually drive a car, I hear on twitter that there are huge lines of cars at gas stations in town today.

And I’ve heard many people around me and in my office say, « I couldn’t do anything during this three-day weekend.

The difference between the quantity and speed of information

In addition to social networking sites, various information is transmitted quickly, and it also comes together quickly. There are many information transmissions using « cloud » which is becoming a trend these days. The representative of this is, for example

We’ve been using Google Docs, Maps, and all kinds of « sharing » tools to aggregate and disseminate various information. I’m really impressed with the daily updates of this site. It has now become a habit for me to look here every morning.

How important information is naturally selected and refined

The situation at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima is very worrisome, but what is radioactivity and radiation, how does it affect the human body and the environment, what would happen to the city we live in if the worst were to happen, and how should we act? Although there is a mixture of information on the Internet, calm experts are beginning to analyze and explain the situation in an easy-to-understand manner.

It is true that there are a lot of hoaxes on the Internet, but the speed at which such hoaxes are put to rest is incredibly fast, especially in the media with strong breaking news characteristics. In addition, people who are used to twitter are able to use official RTs appropriately and have a strong awareness of clarifying « who is the reliable source » for unreliable information.

I also feel that everyone is learning, including myself, and that the dissemination of information via twitter is evolving.

Information about nuclear power plants may be one example.

In this long but short week, I have witnessed many false rumors due to lack of understanding, and in the midst of the confusion, important information was naturally selected and refined in the fast-moving media.

Also, it seems that TV and other media are not reporting much about the devastation in Fukushima and Ibaraki. However, on twitter, the situation of the disaster in these areas is being reported quickly.

There were people at our company, but many people don’t seem to know that some parts of Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures are still severely damaged.

A sense of security through contact with people and the exchange of information

It will still take a long time to get back to the situation before the earthquake, but there is no point in being depressed, and there is no benefit if the world sees Japan as depressed. To be honest, what we can do, as people who can’t help directly, is to show that we are living our lives as usual. It’s not good for the economy at all.

In addition, it is better to have a meal or a drink with many friends in times like this. I also met with some friends last weekend right after the earthquake and it was a great relief for me.

Another great advantage of meeting people in person is that you can reconfirm a lot of conflicting information. Of course, each person has a different interpretation and way of thinking even if they are looking at the same source. I thought it was important to confirm these differences and deepen my own understanding.

The rolling blackouts are expected to continue, and there is no way to tell when we will be able to return to our normal lives.

P.S 節電生活が意外と快適です。停電は厳しいですが…。