This is exactly how things went down. Len is probably in Tokyo like I was. Shook the hell out of us, but at the end we were fine. Then we saw the images of Touhoku...
A lot of people come from Touhoku to Tokyo for work or school. Although I'm a foreigner, I'm actually included in that group. I used to live in Touhoku and later went to Tokyo for school.
Trust me, what Len is doing in this frame is what millions were doing after the initial shaking stopped. The phone system was completely overloaded.
And there was scenery which really looked like the neighborhood around Rin's house.It was maybe few hours after the earthquake.The TV showed images of the places hit by the tsunami.He tried calling over and over, but the phone didn't work.
