Hatsune no mori

I happened to get up at around 5:40 this morning. Today of twenty years ago the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake occurred. I never forget this disaster. At that time I lived with my parents in Hyogo pref. My wooden house also shook bitterly in the early morning, causing the stereo speaker on the high book shelf in my room fall to the floor. I pulled up the bed quilt to my head and trembled with scare. My father tried to run away in a hurry leaving his wife alone. My mother stood still and scolded at him, «Keep cool!!» Since then their relation has become worse (^^;)
After that the gas supply had stopped for several months in my city. My mother cooked by electric cooker or cassette-​type portable gas range. However water was boiled not by gas but by petroleum in the bath of my house. Therefore I could take bath at home, although the gas supply stopped. Similarly my boss living in the vicinity also used petroleum for the bath. He didn’t know my situation and was so kind for my family to suggest us to take bath in his house.
War or disaster may make even the kindest person a devil. I am moved by the warm hand which a person delivers when I am in plight. I would like to believe in goodwill of a person.
I do want to review here, Hatsune no Mori (forest of Hatsune) on this day, if you should provide something against a rainy day. When I was wandering about Yanaka with my husband last autumn, I happened to find here. The shelter for citizens in the neighborhood is a wide ground without playing appliances, where children play soccer and so on. Such tools of disaster prevention as a deep well, manhole toilets, and cooking stoves (they are usually used as benches) are equipped. The streets or roads are a little narrow, and the houses are crowded in Yanaka. This is why the place for taking a shelter was built.
I would like foreign residents around here to know the existence of Hatsune no Mori. I hope they will spend their lives in Japan peacefully and safely. You can read disaster prevention guidebook in English on various web sites. Japan is a country of earthquakes. Please stay cool and cope with emergencies appropriately when an earthquake or tunami tidal wave happens. Otherwise, you may quarrel with your important persons like my parents (^^;)