'Like Being On The Open Ocean Tossed By Gale Force Winds'

Rob Manning | March 11, 2011 3:52 p.m. | Updated: March 11, 2011 4:18 p.m. | Portland, OR

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A former Portlander living in Japan is warning Oregonians to prepare ahead of time for an earthquake.

Extended Version of Jefferson's Story
Robert Jefferson is currently a public radio news reporter based in Tokyo. He ran the newsroom at Portland’s KBOO community radio from 2003-2005. For 25 years before that – and for the last four years – Robert Jefferson has been a news professional in Japan.

Robert Jefferson ran the newsroom at KBOO community radio in Portland before becoming a public broadcaster in Japan, four years ago.

Jefferson says he was driving home from work in Tokyo when the earthquake struck. 

Robert Jefferson: “I’m on a narrow street, and I see people darting out of buildings around me, and I’m wondering ‘what is going on here?’ Then I turn a corner and I feel my car as if it’s on the open ocean being tossed about in a gale force wind.”

Jefferson says it took hours longer to get home because of power failures all around his home in Kamakura.

He says he saw fires nearby, but his house was intact.

Jefferson says he found online services like Facebook and Skype to be more reliable ways of communication than telephones.

Jefferson advises Oregonians to get familiar with the places they work and live, and to have escape plans ready, in the event of an earthquake.

© 2011 OPB

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