Man with Ties to Waukesha Blogs Earthquake Stories from Japan

“It lasted a grueling four minutes and was pretty scary to have everything shaking, not just the building, but anything and everything outside too,” said Kris Marose, a former Waukesha County resident who is living and working in Japan, in a Facebook message to Waukesha Patch.

Marose, whose mother works for Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church and School, now lives in Ebina, Kanagawa. Marose said he was about 300 miles away from the worst of the devastating 8.9-magnitude earthquake. Ebina’s registered about a 5-magnitude earthquake.

“Myself and the area I live in is fortunately completely safe and free from harm, but I have prepared some food, water (and) clothes in case I need them,” Marose said in the message. “It's been almost 12 hours since the earthquake, and I'm still feeling aftershocks all the way down here in Ebina.

“They're saying (6-magnitude) quakes may occur over the next month. The tsunamis from this quake will also continue for another day, so they're telling everyone to keep away from the coasts.”

Marose has been blogging from Japan about his experience. It hasn’t been the first time he has been through an earthquake. He survived an earthquake four years ago while living in Tokyo, he writes in his blog.

“That didn't hold a candle to this one, which was even further away,” Marose wrote in his blog.

Here is an excerpt from the blog:

“The earthquake started slowly, like other earthquakes we've had before. Then it got worse and worse, the lights and A/C units swayed more and more violently, getting louder and louder. Eventually myself and a coworker decided to just get out of the building. As I arrived outside, I was greeted by other people from surrounded buildings out on the street. The power lines were shaking like crazy, so we tried to stay away from them. The entire ground was shaking too; it was an unbelievable experience. The earthquake continued for a few minutes. At first you're freaked out and the adrenaline kicks in. But when it doesn't stop for awhile you realize how completely out of control you are with the situation and just need to focus on staying safe.”