２０１１年３月１１日
１１年前のこの日はこの先も一生忘れることのない日です。
そして当日のことを私は今でも鮮明に覚えています。
当時の私は卸営業部門のリーダーと関東と東北エリアの営業を兼務しており、新幹線で大阪と東京を年間40往復する生活を送っていました。
東日本大震災のあった２０１１年３月１１日のこの週は福島・宮城・山形・岩手・青森を訪問する予定を立てていましたが、３月に入っても雪が多く、青森のお得意先から雪が多いから雪道に慣れていない都会の人は4月に延期したほうがいいとのアドバイスをいただき、福島以外の訪問予定を急遽変更したのです。
３月７日(月)に埼玉の大宮から営業をスタートし栃木の足利 宇都宮 小山 佐野を経て茨城へ移動したのが３月９日(水)のことでした。お昼頃に水戸のお得意先で世間話をしていたところ小さな地震が発生、大きくはないものの体感できる程の揺れであったことを記憶しています。 この時まさか２日後に大きな地震が来ることなど予想もつかず・・・
この日の予定をすべて済ませて夜に常磐道を北上し翌日のアポの為に福島のいわきへ移動、３月でしたが東北はさすがに寒くホテルでチェックインを早々と済ませて近くの居酒屋で熱燗を飲んだのを覚えています。
そして、その日の夜中にも体感できる程の揺れを感じて目が覚めました。日時にして３月１０日(木)の午前３時頃のことだったと思います。この時もまさか翌日に大きな地震が来ることなど予想もつかず・・・
朝からいわき市内、郡山市内、福島市内を経て営業を終え、福島駅前のホテルにチェックインしたのは20時を過ぎていたと思います。 この日も寒かったためホテル近くの居酒屋で熱燗を飲んだのを覚えています。
３月１１日(金)朝一の福島市内の営業を済ませた後に栃木の宇都宮へ新規取引の初商談へ向かいました。
アポの時間は１３：００ 話がスムーズに進み、お取引ができそうな手ごたえを感じながら初商談を終えたのが１４：００過ぎ。
この週の予定をすべて終え、埼玉の契約駐車場へ向かう途中の東北道 鹿沼インターへ入る直前の道路で前方の車が急ブレーキを踏んで停車、私も急停車しました。視界前方に連なる電信柱の揺れに伴い電線が大きく波打っている光景が目に入りました。車が大きく揺れて何事かと車内から外に出ても大きな揺れは止まらず、ラジオのパーソナリティが力いっぱい大きな声で地震を伝えていたことを今でも鮮明に覚えています。
揺れの収まりを確認して東北道へ入り南下するも途中の佐野藤岡から先が通行止めで強制的に出口へ、国道５０号線は西行き、東行き共に大渋滞でしたが、東行きへ入り、道の駅から妻へ電話をすると奇跡的につながり、そこで初めて東北で津波が発生したことを知りました。 この時１６:３０頃だったと記憶していますが、津波が発生したことや大渋滞の国道の状況を見たこの時点で大阪へ帰ることができないと判断しその旨を妻に伝えました。
ガソリンを満タンにして埼玉の契約駐車場へ向かうルートは一般道しかなく、群馬の舘林から埼玉の桶川、上尾を経由して大宮から１７号バイパスへ入ったのが２２時頃でした。その途中、空腹を満たすためにコンビニに寄ってもどこもお腹の足しになるような食料品は売り切れで全くなし、棚に残っていた数袋のスナック菓子を買って渋滞の中食べたのを覚えています。大渋滞の１７号バイパスを抜けて朝霞市の契約駐車場へ到着したのが日付が変わった３月１２日の午前０時を過ぎていたと思います。近くのホテルはどこも満室で取ることもできず、車内泊を決意、度重なる余震を感じながら浅い眠りで朝まで過ごしました。翌朝の始発の東武東上線で東京駅へ向かう途中に余震が何回も発生しその度に乗客の携帯から地震速報が一斉に鳴り響き、電車が緊急停止するという状況が何度もありました。
その翌週半ばごろに被害地域近くの全お得意先の安否確認が取れ当社のお得意先の人的被害はなかったことが確認できホッとしたのを覚えています。
近くに居て体験した未曽有の出来事、普段 ”あたりまえ” に使っているインフラがマヒをして不便を感じると ”ありがたい” ということを実感します。
この週にお得意先のアドバイスがなく予定通りに出張に行っていたことを考えると・・・
記憶が鮮明で書き出すときりがないのでここでとどめておきます。
この震災を含め私自身が今まで経験した未曽有の出来事
・阪神淡路大震災
・リーマンショック
・東日本大震災
・新型コロナウィルス
これらのことは日本の歴史の教科書に載るような出来事かもしれません。
私は直接的に受けた被害はなかったですが、未曽有の出来事を経験した歴史の証人として
そこから学んだことは、小さなことでもこれから先のことに活かさなければならない、
そして後世に伝えなければならない。
そう思っています。
この地震を教訓に我が家では災害が発生して家族がバラバラになったら、集合する場所は決めています。
車庫には非常持ち出し袋を３つ用意しています。
災害から学んだ自分たちでできる小さな対策です。
南海トラフや首都直下型地震の今後３０年以内に高確率で発生すると予想されていますが、
いざというときに備えておきましょう。
そしてその備えを定期的にチェックしましょう。
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#23 3.11 We Will Not Forget the day
• March 11, 2022
March 11, 2011
This day 11 years ago is one that I will never forget for the rest of my life.
I still vividly remember that day.
At the time, I was the leader of the wholesale sales department and also responsible for sales in the Kanto and Tohoku areas, and I was making 40 round trips a year between Osaka and Tokyo by bullet train.
I had planned to visit Fukushima, Miyagi, Yamagata, Iwate, and Aomori during the week of March 11, 2011, the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake, but there was still a lot of snow in March, and a client in Aomori advised us to postpone our visit to April for city people who are not used to snowy roads because of the heavy snowfall. We changed our schedule abruptly.
We started our business in Omiya, Saitama on Monday, March 7, and moved to Ibaraki via Ashikaga, Utsunomiya, Oyama, and Sano in Tochigi on Wednesday, March 9. I remember that around noon, while we were chatting with a client in Mito, a small earthquake occurred, not a big one, but a tremor that we could feel. At that time, I had no idea that a big earthquake would hit two days later.
After completing all my plans for the day, I headed north on the Joban Expressway at night and moved to Iwaki, Fukushima for an appointment the next day.
Then I woke up in the middle of the night that day, feeling a tremor that I could feel. I think it was around 3:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 10. At that time, I had no idea that a big earthquake would hit the next day.
I think it was after 8:00 p.m. when I checked into a hotel in front of Fukushima Station after finishing my business in the morning through Iwaki City, Koriyama City, and Fukushima City. It was cold that day, so I remember drinking hot sake at an izakaya (Japanese-style bar) near the hotel.
On Friday, March 11, after completing my first morning business in Fukushima City, I headed to Utsunomiya in Tochigi for my first business meeting with a new client.
The appointment was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The conversation went smoothly, and we finished our first business meeting at 2:00 p.m., feeling that we were on the verge of doing business with them.
After completing all of my appointments for the week, I was on my way to the contracted parking lot in Saitama when a car in front of me suddenly braked and stopped on the road just before entering the Kanuma Interchange on the Tohoku Expressway. I saw a series of telegraph poles swaying in front of my view, and electric wires were waving in the air. The car shook so much that I got out of the car to see what was going on, but the shaking did not stop. I still vividly remember the radio personality telling us about the earthquake in a loud and powerful voice.
After confirming that the tremors had subsided, I entered the Tohoku Expressway and headed south, but the road was closed from Sano Fujioka on the way, and I was forced to take the exit. I remember it was around 4:30 p.m. when I called my wife. After seeing the tsunami and the heavy traffic on the national highway, I decided that I could not return to Osaka and told her so.
I filled up the tank and took the only route to the contracted parking lot in Saitama, which was an open road, so I drove from Tatebayashi in Gunma to Omiya via Okegawa and Ageo in Saitama and entered the Route 17 bypass around 10:00 pm. On the way there, I stopped at a convenience store to satisfy my hunger, but all of them were out of food to fill our stomachs, so I bought a few bags of snacks that were left on the shelves and ate them in the traffic. I think it was after midnight on March 12 when I arrived at a contracted parking lot in Asaka City through the heavily congested Route 17 bypass. All the hotels nearby were fully booked, so I decided to stay in the car and slept until morning in a shallow sleep, feeling frequent aftershocks. On the way to Tokyo Station on the first Tobu Tojo Line train the next morning, aftershocks occurred several times, and each time an earthquake alert went off simultaneously from passengers’ cell phones, causing the train to come to an emergency stop several times.
The following week, we were able to confirm the safety of all our customers near the affected area and were relieved to learn that none of our customers had suffered any human casualties.
When you are in the vicinity of an unprecedented event, or when the infrastructure you normally use “as usual” is paralyzed and you feel inconvenienced, you realize how “thankful” you are.
I shudder to think what would have happened, if I had gone on a business trip as scheduled this past week with no advice from my client.
My memory is so vivid that there is no end to what I can write down, so I will stop here.
Unprecedented events that I myself have experienced up to now, including this disaster.
・The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
・Lehman Shock
・Great East Japan Earthquake
・New coronavirus
These may be events that will be written about in Japanese history textbooks.
I was not directly affected, but as a witness of history who experienced unprecedented events,
I believe that what we have learned from these events, however small, must be applied to what we do in the future, and that we must pass them on to future generations.
Learning from this earthquake, our family determined a place to meet if a disaster strikes and the family is separated.
We have three emergency bags in the garage.
These are small measures we can take by ourselves that we learned from the disaster.
The Nankai Trough and an earthquake directly under the Tokyo metropolitan area are expected to occur with a high probability within the next 30 years.
Be prepared in case of an emergency.
Be prepared for emergencies and check your preparedness regularly.