LIMERICKMAN Rick Ahern, originally from Woodview Park, and now working in Hamamatsu city, one and a half hours from Tokyo, was caught up in the huge 8.9 magnitude earthquake that stuck Japan.
Rick, employed as a co-ordinator for International Relations in Hamamatsu City, told the Limerick Post: “I was working in the Hamamatsu Multicultural Centre, which is on the 9th floor of a building, when the quake hit. At first I felt a bit of a rumble, I found it a strange sensation and thought I was fainting, but I looked up and everyone in the office was giggling.
“The Japanese people are surprisingly relaxed about them because they get little ones so frequently But, when it went on, and on, and got stronger, people started to get a bit edgy. I was terrified. Sweating buckets and shaking like a leaf, I actually thought that was it. With Christchurch fresh in my mind, I had never felt such fear in all my life.
“After three or four aftershocks, everyone calmed down, the Japanese knew we were not in a whole lot of danger as in Hamamatsu, the readings were only a magnitude of 3, versus over 7 further north.
“I was then called back to city hall to help out at the disaster prevention department. I translated tsunami warnings for the mail service and broadcasted emergency warnings in English over the radio for the English speaking population. I stayed on in work for a coupe of hours helping out in any way I could. We were very lucky not to be affected here in Hamamatsu”.
Rick is the second Limerick man in a matter of weeks to be caught up in a earthquake, Ewan Fenton, from Corbally, was living in Christchurch when the quake hit there two weeks ago.
