For Conway resident Denise Osaki, dusting off old newspaper clippings from The Japan Times dating back to January 1995 is still painful.
While a young girl living in Los Angeles, she met her husband Riichi Osaki. The two got married, moved to a small town outside of Kobe, Japan where they lived for 15 years and had three kids.
"Even now, it's a feeling that I still kind of have," says Denise. On January 17, 1995, the ground shook underneath her as a 6.9 magnitude earthquake ravaged her community and the city of Kobe.
"You try to stand up, but you can't. It's very scary because you don't know what to expect next or when to expect it. There's no warning."
A year and a half of fearing and worrying, Denise decided she had to move out of Japan where she says small earthquakes occur almost once a week.
"That was one of the main reasons I came back here. I couldn't deal with the stress of another earthquake. I'll still panic when I feel like something is shaking. I know you don't have them down here in South Carolina. But still, you don't get over that feeling."
Her husband, who now lives in Okinawa, stayed in Japan, while she moved to South Carolina with her three kids. Her son Koichi now lives on an Okinawa military base, serving in the United States Marine Corps. Her other son Yuichi still lives in the states, and her daughter lives in Horry County. This morning a call woke her up at 2 a.m., and her heart fell.
"I didn't know where it happened. All the person on the phone told me was that there was an earthquake in Japan."
She called her family, but no one picked up the phone. For half an hour, she sat and waited. "I couldn't get a hold of them at first. So I was panicking."
But fortunately for Denise, she finally heard from her son that everyone was safe. Friday's 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan happened in the northern and middle part of the country. Okinawa is an island on the southern tip of Japan.
The calls of good health relieved Denise, but the thoughts of earthquakes only brought back those painful memories she keeps tucked away, along with the newspapers from the day that still haunts her.
"I just have to deal and put it all in God's hands. Because that's the only way I can say I can deal with it."
