Can I refer to the March 11 earthquake without mentioning the word earthquake?


Is it possible to refer to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and nuclear
incident in everyday conversation, preferably without using the words
earthquake or tsunami or nuclear incident?

For example, when I was told a museum in Sendai wasn't open, and I wasn't sure
whether it was because of the earthquake or just because it's closed on a
Tuesday, should I have said "大震災 / 東日本大震災 から?"※, or could I have used
something that doesn't directly mention 震災?

The reason I'm trying to do so is that even in English, people often avoid
referring to the type of disaster when referring to it (eg "Bali", "seven
seven"), and I've heard that the Japanese language tends to be more indirect
than English.

※ This may not be a correct use of the word から, but that's not relevant to the
question.




It is difficult to refer to the earthquake without mentioning it. If you don't
want to mention it, you can think of other ways to ask:

> 定休日ですか。  
>  'Is it regular holiday?'
>
> なぜしまっているんですか。  
>  'Why is it closed?'
>
> いつ開きますか。  
>  'When will it be open?'

But I don't see any reason to avoid the word.




It is difficult to refer to the earthquake without mentioning it. If you don't
want to mention it, you can think of other ways to ask:

> 定休日ですか。  
>  'Is it regular holiday?'
>
> なぜしまっているんですか。  
>  'Why is it closed?'
>
> いつ開きますか。  
>  'When will it be open?'

But I don't see any reason to avoid the word.

