Whangarei man Richard Eiger is relieved to be home from a one-week holiday in Japan, during which he experienced one of history's biggest earthquakes, a night in a tsunami evacuation centre and fears of radioactive contamination.
Mr Eiger arrived in Tokyo a day before the 8.9-magnitude quake rocked northern Japan and
caused a massive tsunami that flooded coastal areas, killing more than 10,000 people.
Japanese authorities have been struggling to contain damage and prevent a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. Mr Eiger was visiting the museum of exploratory science when the initial earthquake hit.
"My first though was 'okay, we're going to die', and my second thought was 'being near this window is stupid, I gotta get under a table."
After the quake, Mr Eiger fled the building and was taken to a tsunami safe building by three Japanese IT experts who befriended him and translated news reports.
When the threat of tsunami had passed, the men headed to an evacuation centre where they spent the night with about 300 other people.
Mr Eiger, a chemical engineer, was full of praise for the calm and organised way the Japanese people handled such a devastating situation.
"If there was anywhere in the world to be when there was a catastrophe or natural disaster, Japan would be the place to be.
"The Japanese were so calm during the whole period.
"If people had been panicking, because the Japanese are so calm, you'd know that it was the end of the world."
Mr Eiger said Tokyo soon returned to a semblance of normality and he was not inclined to try to leave Japan early.
"The culture is so phenomenal, the feeling that I had, that as a collective group we could work our way through things, was so strong that I wanted to stay longer.
"On the other hand, everyone I know who was sending me emails was basically saying 'we're worried about you, get the hell out of there, don't say any longer'."
The threat of a nuclear meltdown and continual aftershocks kept Mr Eiger on edge for the rest of his stay and he was relieved to finally get on a plane last Thursday.
His wife, Gina, said she was happy to have him home but made him wash his clothes and take a shower just in case he was carrying any radioactive material.
Mr Eiger said his experience in Japan had caused him to think of how he could prepare for a natural disaster.
