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Vol. 89, Issue 16 | Mar. 24 - Mar. 27, 2011
.com
THE MIAMI HURRICANE
Japan, my home
Students share their families’ experiences during the disaster BY JONATHAN BORGE | SENIOR NEWS WRITER
MARLENA SKROBE // Photo Editor
SHAKEN: Junior Iku Kawachi shows a photo of his hometown in Japan.
“Of all the emotions I ’ve felt in the past week and a half, I ’d be lying if I said I wasn ’t angered and saddened by the insensitive, hurtful and downright ignorant remarks made by a select few, who suggested that the disaster somehow constituted ‘karma ’ or ‘divine punishment ’ for events that took place over a half-century ago. ” Iku Kawachi Contributing Columnist (pictured above) SEE JAPAN, PAGE 11
On March 11, Sophie Bishop, a sophomore from Tokyo, Japan, received a phone call at 4 a.m. from a friend who uttered the words, “it finally happened. ” Out of confusion, she immediately opened her laptop to learn that a 30-foot tsunami and a 9.0-magnitude earthquake devastated northern Japan and was felt throughout the country. “Basically we always talk about how the big earthquake will come in Japan and we ’ve always had drills back in elementary school, ” Bishop said. “When she said ‘it finally happened, ’ she meant that what we were scared of finally occurred. ” For five hours, Bishop repeatedly tried to contact family members in Tokyo but received no response. “I was just terrified the whole time because I didn ’t know what happened. I heard that Disneyland was under water which is only about an hour away from my house, so I was completely scared, ” Bishop said. Fortunately for Bishop, her family contacted her at about 9 a.m. and ensured her
that they were OK. “My mom said that all the trains were basically shut down, ” Bishop said. “Nobody could move and everybody had to walk home. Traffic was horrendous. My dad slept over his office because he couldn ’t get home, so he stayed with his colleagues because our house is way too far. ” According to the National Police Agency of Japan, the earthquake and tsunami left 9,700 people dead and 16,501 missing as of Wednesday. “My friends ’ relatives are still not found in the area, ” said Maha Kikugawa, a sophomore who is also from Tokyo. “There are so many people dying and people are just sad and depressed. Japan is completely different from two weeks ago. ” Kikugawa was awoken at 3 a.m. when her boyfriend heard of the earthquake happening back home. “When I was in Japan I had earthquakes maybe every one or two weeks so it wasn ’t a big deal. But this was one was very big so I couldn ’t believe it, ” Kikugawa said.
SEE EARTHQUAKE, PAGE 9