Japanese COD Student Watches as Country is Devastated by Earthquake

Upon hearing the news last Friday that his native Japan had been hit with a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, College of DuPage sophomore Kosuke Hirama initially wanted to leave school and go back to his country to help in some way.

But after talking to his mother, Yako, and his father, Toshiyasu, that day—then again on Sunday—the 21-year-old decided to continue his classes and finish the spring semester at COD, from where he’ll graduate with a 4.0 grade-point average.

“I was so sad,” said Hirama, an international studies major who also finished his second season as a reserve guard on the College of DuPage a few weeks ago. “I thought about dropping all of my classes and going there and help people. My dad said it was up to me. But there’s obviously not much I can do. But it’s just so sad that my people got struck by this disaster, the earthquake and the tsunami. I keep watching the news and can’t stop watching it.”

Hirama grew up in Chiba, a city of almost a million people just northeast of Tokyo in the Japanese prefecture (or jurisdiction) of Chiba. His parents, who make their home in Chiba, both were in downtown Tokyo during last week’s quake.

The last time Hirama spoke to his parents was on Sunday.

“I was worried about them, but they are OK,” he said.

Quake in Tokyo measures 5.0

Hirama said the quake in Tokyo and his hometown was around a magnitude 5.0. Hirama’s parents told him buildings shook downtown, but aside from reports of minor damage—including natural gas storage tanks burning at an oil refinery in Ichihara city near Tokyo—the city and surrounding area was spared the devastation that occurred in the northeast part of the country.

Hirama said his father, who works for a medical company in Tokyo, and his mother, a nurse who currently is taking time off to take nursing-related courses at a school in the city, both stayed in Tokyo that night after the quake hit.

They returned to Chiba on Saturday and told Hirama there was no structural damage to their home.

“Everything came off the book shelves, and the dishes, everything fell,” he said. “They have five cats and they were also scared. But that was pretty much it.”

The Tokyo area is located almost 200 miles south of Sendai—a city along the northeast coast of Japan near the quake’s offshore epicenter and one of the cities in that area devastated by the quake and subsequent tsunamis, which contained waves as high as 33 feet.

Japan is vulnerable to earthquakes, and Hirama said he has experienced tremors in the past while living in Chiba. Most buildings in the island nation are constructed to withstand earthquakes, but few buildings in coastal cities near the quake’s epicenter were spared due to the combination of the 9.0 quake followed by the tsunamis.

Grandfather lives near damaged nuclear plant

The quake—the largest ever recorded in Japan—also unfortunately has been its most deadly. The number of dead and missing persons is estimated at over 16,000.

Hirama’s two sisters, Ai and Saki, live in the cities of Yokohama and Kyoto, respectively. Both are safe, he said. (Yokohama is south of Tokyo, while Kyoto is in the southwestern part of the country.)

However, Hirama’s grandfather lives in Iwaki, a coastal city around 125 miles south of Sendai. Hirama estimates that Iwaki is 30 to 40 kilometers (or 20 to 30 miles) from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that has made worldwide headlines.

The plant experienced damage to four of its six reactors from partial meltdowns, explosions and fires resulting from the quake and tsunami.

Hirama said his father initially was going to drive up to Iwaki to pick up his grandfather, but a combination of gasoline shortages, too much traffic and damaged roads leading to Iwaki prevented him from doing so.

On Wednesday, Hirama’s mother ended up taking a plane to an airport near Iwaki. After the plane landed, she took a taxi to pick up his grandfather. Both went back to the airport, and Hirama’s grandfather boarded a plane for Osaka. The grandfather is currently living in Osaka with Hirama’s uncle.

As for the plant, engineers and workers have continued efforts to spray and dump water on overheated nuclear rods, as well as try to restore electricity to the plant’s cooling systems whose power was knocked out by the quake and tsunami. All this, of course, is being done to prevent large amounts of radiation from being released into the air.

Hirama said he discussed the situation involving the reactor with his father, a former internal medicine doctor who used to research issues involving radiation in Japan. Hirama’s father told Kosuke that he believes things will eventually be resolved.

“He said this is pretty bad. However, it won’t be a disaster (like it was) in Chernobyl,” said Hirama, referring to the 1986 disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine, considered to be the worst accident involving a nuclear plant in history. “Those who are in charge of the nuclear plant are working hard so it will be O.K.

“We’ve never had that kind of tsunami. That’s why our nuclear plants are messed up. People say about how we were not prepared for this natural disaster, but we’ve never had this kind of disaster. I don’t think nobody expected this.”

Hirama said he is grateful that many nations, including the U.S., China and South Korea, have come to Japan’s aid.

“We’re getting a lot of help from China and (South) Korea and the U.S. to a huge degree,” he said. “They showed us how much they cared for us and we really appreciate it and thank you for the help.”

Despite the disaster, Hirama is convinced that his nation and the Japanese people will recover.

“Yes, I’m sure about it,” he said. “We’re used to adversities. We’re the kind of people that have always overcome adversity. Even after the war (World War II), we came back. Every year we have severe typhoons. I think we can overcome it.”

How to donate to relief efforts

A number of well-known charitable organizations such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Save the Children, World Vision, the International Medical Corps and the Convoy of Hope, have set up their websites in order to make online donations to relief efforts.

Here are their website addresses:

American Red Cross: www.redcross.org

Salvation Army: http://salvationarmyusa.org

Save the Children: www.savethechildren.org

World Vision: http://donate.worldvision.org

International Medical Corps: www.internationalmedicalcorps.org

Convoy of Hope: http://www.convoyofhope.org