Japan-ANOTHER EarthQuake- Brittany Andrews Tells us about her Experience

NL-Last night Japan felt the earth move with a 7.4 tremor, thought to be an another aftershock from the original earthquake in March.

I talked to Brittany Andrews yesterday about her long and  frightening experience in Tokyo last month. She endured the massive earthquake and aftershocks, and eventually got out of the country and back to NYC unharmed. (The pictures are by Britt & others caught in the catastrophophy)

Why were you in Japan?
I was in Japan visiting family. I have two nephews and their wives that live in Japan. I then was going to be visiting my brother who lives in China. We were planning on going to the Hong Kong Film Festival with a few friends to pitch a few of our film projects that we have been looking to get foreign distribution for.
While in Japan I also was going to do some cool Fem-Domme fetish work while I was there with a Jap
anese Adult Video company.
I was excited as I was going to be the first American Porn Star that they had worked with.
When I was younger I used to live in Japan and most people that know me well know that I have quite the Asian fetish.  Meooowww…
Sexually, I was excited to do these shoots as I definitely like to play with the Japanese boys and I love a lot of the Japanese style of fetish art.
As a filmmaker, I also was interested in seeing what type of camera equipment etc. that they were going to be using production-wise. Being that the Japanese are technically still way ahead of us in the United States I was very interested in doing some filmmaker shoptalk with equipment and such.
Also I have quite a few friends that live in Japan as well and I was looking forward to seeing them and just enjoying Tokyo as a whole as I do love the city.

(The night before from Brittany’s hotel room)

What were you doing at the time of the earthquake?
I actually had a very adorable little Asian boy that was with me and we were having a bit of fun in my hotel room when the earthquake happened.  I thought I was rocking his world but I very soon came to realize that it was not me unfortunately.

What did you think when it hit?
Being that I lived in Tokyo before and I also lived in Los Angeles I have been through about 20-30 earthquakes before. When it originally hit I mentioned that an earthquake was happening. It is one of those things when an earthquake is happening that you notice it and it is over. However that was not the case with this particular earthquake. Most earthquakes are about 30 seconds to a minute. I believe this one was close to five minutes long. So it was like okay this is an earthquake-okay this is not good – OMFG – this is extremely serious we need to get the hell out a here. I was extremely scared and shaking. It was no joke.
I also was naked in my new Louboutins so that is another thing that you think of immediately is “I’m naked!!!!” We both tried to get dressed but the building was shaking so much that it was impossible to stand up.  I was on my knees on the floor getting dressed with everything shaking extremely in the room including me.
room including me.

(After the first earthquake from Brittany’s room)

There was more then one earthquake correct?
It was pretty scary as yes it wasn’t just one earthquake. From the time of the first one to the time I left there were over 200 aftershocks and earthquakes. Most of them being over 6.0. You really could not tell the difference between the earthquakes and aftershocks. Some of the aftershocks were bigger than the earthquakes that happened. There were quite a few aftershocks and I believe one or two earthquakes when I was trapped in the stairwell as well. This was not an earthquake- this was the earths platelets moving non-stop for a couple of days. It was something amazing to behold because you knew this was not just an earthquake that there was something much bigger that is going on here.  As I said before I’ve been through many earthquakes before but nothing like this. I mean you really have to think about over 200 aftershocks that are over 6.0 it was so nonstop you were so thankful whenever the Earth stopped moving. However it was never very long before the next one would come. The first night I had some strangers stay in my room as I was scared to be alone because you just kept thinking one of these is going to be bigger then the first one.  When you think about it the buildings are structured to handle an 8.0 or a 7.0 earthquake once, they are not structured to handle and 9.0 Earthquake with over 100 aftershocks at a 6.0 or more. So you’re really thinking every time another one came can this building stand another one? I think the gentlemen that stayed overnight appreciated the company as well as they were stranded without a hotel room and they were just as terrified as I was. They left in the morning and I was left alone. I needed to take a shower before heading to airport, however I was scared thinking a bad aftershock or earthquake was going to happen. I was a tad paralyzed at that moment and finally got the nerve to take a shower and of course there was like a huge aftershock that happened while I was taking a shower. I had to stand on one foot going back and forth while taking a shower to get through it.
Once I got to the airport it was even worse because the structure of my hotel was much better the airport was really shaky. You had so many people there talking and chatting however then a huge aftershock would happen and it would be so big that everybody just went completely quiet while we all waited to see how bad it was going to be.  13,000 people all becoming completely quiet at one time is very eerie while you are listening to everything rattle and shake loudly.  At one point for about an hour it was just a very low-grade nonstop rumble underneath your feet.
I think out of the entire experience what was the most traumatic thing for me was just this non-stop one after another earthquake/aftershocks. You really never had a chance to get your breath and feel safe.  You are in a constant state of fear. 
Then of course there was the radiation that we were hearing about nonstop that was coming out of Fukushima from Daiichi two and three.  I had a friend from CalTech telling me get out of there. I was like “Im trying tooooo…..”

(It looks a lot worse close up)

How did you escape from getting hurt?
Thank God I had that boy there with me.  As with the hotel loudspeaker everything was in Japanese and I had no idea what was going on.  He told me we needed to get out of there fast as a fire had occurred in the building.  So we went to the stairwell and started going down the stairs FAST. I was staying on the 48th floor. We got to floor 33 and I was trapped there between floors 33 and 30 for over an hour with a couple thousand Japanese people trying to get out of the building. There was a fire between floors 40 and 43 I believe and then another one on some lower floors as well. It was very scary being trapped in a stairwell with so many people for so long. Knowing that the building was on fire and then the constant aftershocks. People were crying and praying.  It was over 100° in that stairwell. We were all sweating to death and I never sweat. I definitely thought at that moment Miss Brittany’s luck may have run out. I think I twittered at one point-I think I’m a goner. Those were the words I used. I also knew something of the tsunami that was happening as the word tsunami is the same in both English and Japanese. Almost everybody was on their cell phone and they were pulling up information on the tsunami.  However it was very difficult because even the boy that I had there with me did not speak very good English and he was scared to death as well so it was difficult getting information. I really had no idea what was going on.  I will say that I was very happy I was in Japan being trapped in a stairwell because I knew if it was the United States there would have been trampling, anger and panic. Everyone was extremely scared however nobody acted irrationally.  Which I was so thankful for!!!  As that was a very small space with a lot of people.  However everybody was extremely orderly about everything especially when we finally got the opportunity to leave the building.  Each floor consisted of 2-3 flights of stairs and so that was over 100 flights of stairs that we had to go down. Once I got outside and had the fresh air on my face I was relieved.

(one of many tragic stories)

How did you get from your hotel to the airport?
Well that was one of the next difficult things. I was told originally that I was going to have to take a train however when they saw that my luggage actually weighs more than I do they said that was going to be impossible. I had tried to explain that to them however they did not understand until they actually saw my luggage.  LOL. So at that particular point they did finally find me a taxicab. Not a particularly easy task at that time. I was told that freeways were closed and that the ride was going to be about three hours to the airport. However that was not the case the actual taxicab ride ended up being close to 8 hours long. The main Airport Freeway was not accessible. My taxicab driver did not speak a word of English so that was a very long 8 hour taxicab ride watching the ticker go up and up.  It was a very expensive taxicab ride as well. Also my cell phone was close to being dead.  So I pretty much had nothing to do except go over in my mind the events that had just occurred as there was no music no one to talk to-yes a long taxi cab ride. I do remember however when he saw that the main airport freeway was not open  -he was not happy. This was not a good sign to me. He then explained to me that it was going to be at least another 3-4 hours more. Ughhhh…

How long did it take you to get back to your home in NYC?
Well once I got to the Narita airport I realized that I was then stranded with about 13,000 other people trying to get out of Tokyo.  All I had wanted when I got to the airport was a glass of wine. Because this whole thing was pretty stressful to the system.  All I really wanted was a glass of wine. However when I got there, there was no food or alcohol accessible. There were some individuals from the Australian embassy that had these tiny little muffins that they were handing out to people and it had been over 24 hours since I had any real food. I was appreciating those little muffins. Yes I was  I also realized that I was going to be stuck there for a couple of days. So I made friends and we talked. It was at that point that I was like HELLO – why have I not been filming all of this. So I got out my flip camera and I started documenting people’s stories of where they were at when it all happened, how it affected them and where they were going to now etc. etc.

How did you feel when the plane landed on US soil?
I felt blessed and happy to be home. I came home however with an intense sadness for all those left behind that were not as lucky as I was. I still had my family there and was very worried about them as well. Also my friends that live there and there families too.  Such devastation.
I set up a charity page for my family and friends in Japan to use as a voice for them to let people know what is going on over there. Also as a way to relate relief efforts that are going on that people can contribute to.  People do still need your help. Please do take a look at the page for ways that you can help.  I spoke to my nephew today he lives only an hour from the hardest hit area and its sad some of what he is telling me that they are seeing. He did say today that his wife was helping in replanting a farm which is a positive step in the right direction.
Japan in Crisis : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Japan-in-Crisis/160915507296459

We are so glad you made it back where you belong in one piece.  Thank U! – Me toooo