A family from the Isle of Man have been recounting their fear after an earthquake in Japan killed 48 people (as of January 2).
Energy FM presenter Freddie Sanders, along with his Mother Sarah and Brother George were spending the Christmas holidays touring Japan.
Freddie said they were in the Disneyland park when the 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck.
Although almost three hundred miles from the quake’s epicenter, the Disney park suffered damage including power outages, a small fire, and structural damage to buildings. Park Officials carried out safety inspections before reopening the next day.
Freddie told Manx.News, “It was lucky that we weren’t on any rides but instead in one of the souvenir shops.
We had no clue what was going on and my first thought was that it may be some sort of bomb.
Freddie Sanders
“When the alarm went off I can honestly say that we had no clue what was going on and my first thought was that it may be some sort of bomb because the staff just kept telling us in Japanese to get on the floor and put our hands on our heads rather than leave the building which would be more likely in the case of a fire.”
Language barrier
Freddie continued: “It was pretty scary to be honest because we didn’t know the exact issue due to the language barrier.
“There was just lots of gesturing from the staff to get down on the floor and put our hands on our heads. At one point they were gesturing to us to move away from the windows so we literally crawled on hands and knees to the side of the shop instead.
It was the most scary experience of my life made a lot worse by the lack of understanding of Japanese.
Freddie Sanders
He added: “I didn’t really focus on what was going on around me in the shop and the other people there; I could feel the ground moving under me and I just focused on breathing deeply and slowly to try to remain as calm as possible.
“The main thing that really helped me to stay calm was the fact that the staff themselves were very calm which is a credit to Disney and their training.”
The lucky ones
Freddie said: “We were the lucky ones because Tokyo is on the other side of Japan where the earthquake hit but even hundreds of miles away we still felt the tremors as we sat on the shop floor.”
Adding: “It was all over in about 10 minutes although it felt longer and straight after we went back out into Main Street and you would think that nothing had happened at all, everyone was out shopping and going on rides again.
“On balance it did seem safer to stay in Disneyland rather than leave because the staff clearly know how to handle these types of situations.”
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