Couldn’t sleep, too much on my mind and no way to quiet it down, so I went out. After wandering with the camera for a bit, I sat on a park bench in the dark, well after midnight.

At 2:05 AM, an earthquake began.

When an earthquake hits, the first thing to enter my mind is a typically a question—just how big is this thing going to be? More often than not, no sooner has the question floated through my consciousness than the quake is already over, having been of no consequence.

But not every time. Sometimes they’re bigger, and the question remains unanswered a few moments longer, hanging in the air while the building sways and creaks and the cooking utensils rattle together in the kitchen.

There’s a different question that comes up occasionally, when the shaking continues to build long enough that the inquiry shift to, could this be the big one?

The big one, or course, refers to the massive earthquake for which we are apparently overdue.

Recently and for the first time, scientists in Japan issued a warning of increased risk for a megaquake along the Nankai Trough, off the Pacific coast of Honshu. The warning came in early August, following a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that could have been a precursor to something even larger. And though the warning was lifted a week later without much of anything happening, the warning made the populace wary.

There was a run on emergency supplies—bottled water, shelf-stable foods, rice, cans of butane for stoves. The Japan Meteorological Agency’s call for caution was a reminder that we all need to be prepared. Between typhoons and earthquakes alone, Japan has its hands full with natural disasters, and nobody wants to be stuck without food and water because they forgot to stock up when they still had the chance.

Besides prompting people to prepare for an emergency, it’s also shifted the public consciousness somewhat. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that people are actively living in fear of the big one, but we’re certainly thinking about it more.

And for me, what’s always been the question of, could this be the big one?, has shifted to the more direct and more alert, is this the big one?

So at 2:05 AM, sitting on a bench in Tsuki Park, when I felt everything begin to lurch to and fro, the newly adjusted question immediately arose in my mind.

Is this…?

This time no, and thankfully not. But one of these times, it will be the big one. When that day arrives, I sincerely hope we’re all as prepared as can be, though I don’t think we will.