Albuquerque balloonist witnesses Tokyo quake | Tokyo

Albuquerque balloonist Troy Bradley was in downtown Tokyo when the quake hit. He's used to the earth moving under his feet, but not like this. "We were in meetings when the earthquake actually occurred," Bradley said in a telephone interview. Bradley was in Tokyo, along with about 50 members of the international ballooning community, trying to get the International Balloon Hall of Fame moved to Albuquerque. "The first earthquake on Wednesday shook the building pretty good, but nothing was overly exciting," he said. But the next quake on Friday shook their building much harder, for much longer "We were actually looking out the windows, watching 30 and 40 story buildings right across the street, swaying with the earthquake," Bradley explained. He says the ordeal was very intense. Luckily, he still had access to hot water and necessities but he watched as the community around him panicked. "The convenience stores were cleaned off all their shelves. That was the biggest inconvenience for us," he said.