Disaster has put city native on edge

Michigan City native Tim Miller lives in Kobe, Japan. Photo provided
By Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
Published: Monday, March 14, 2011 5:07 PM CDT
KOBE, Japan — Michigan City native Tim Miller lives on the opposite end of Japan’s main island from where an earthquake and tsunami killed hundreds of people Friday. But the experience, even so far removed from the carnage, has put him on edge, he said.

His girlfriend, Hiromi Noma, had a nerve-rattling experience being stuck in Tokyo overnight Friday with no train service home.

“Things were so shaky there, I think she was ready for it to be the end,” said Miller, the son of former Michigan City mayor Randy Miller, in a phone interview early Monday morning. “She couldn’t call anyone; she had a very bad time.”

Noma flew to Tokyo on Friday afternoon to see an Iron Maiden concert, he said, but just after her plane landed around 2:45 p.m. airport security started declaring an emergency due to the earthquake. Its shocks could be felt even there, 200 miles from the epicenter. She got to a hotel but had to sleep in her clothes, he said, as the staff kept periodically announcing they may have to evacuate if aftershocks got too bad. The concert, of course, was cancelled.

Noma finally returned to their home in Kobe by bullet train on Saturday.

“I was so relieved,” said Miller, 56, who is a bass guitar instructor in Osaka. He wouldn’t have even known about the earthquake at first if he hadn’t gotten Noma’s e-mails, he said. The southern region of the island hasn’t been affected. “It can make you feel pretty small.”

Not that either are strangers to earthquakes. Little ones happen all the time in Japan, Miller said, where he’s lived for 14 years.

Noma lived through a huge earthquake that rocked Kobe in 1995, which took years for the city to recover from. Their homes had no gas or water for three months afterward, Miller said. He lived in Northridge, Calif., when an earthquake struck the San Fernando Valley in 1994. But the frightening reality of Friday’s disaster is hitting home for them both.

“When I think about how many people whose lives were changed in an instant, I see how lucky we are sitting in our home getting ready to go to work,” Miller said. “I had to shut the TV off because its story after story about people who lost their homes, their loved ones, everything...the destruction is so massive. You feel so helpless to do anything, but we are doing what we can.”

He said he is hoping the many safety measures in place at Japan’s nuclear power plants stave off radiation leaks or other emergencies. All the plants shut down automatically Friday.

Locals voice concern about crisis in Japan

Michigan City High School Japanese teacher Mike Tsugawa with his wife Akiko and daughter Mia. Photo provided
By Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
Published: Monday, March 14, 2011 5:07 PM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — Even with rolling electricity blackouts expected for weeks and no train service, exchange student Akiko Yamada said her family in Yokohama, Japan, is grateful they were spared in the destruction of Friday’s historic earthquake and tsunami.

“Seven hours a day they can do something, the other hours they can’t do anything,” because there is no power, said Yamada, 17. “I miss my family a little bit, but I am glad I was not there. There are still little earthquakes happening everywhere.”

Yamada, who is staying with a family in Michigan City as she attends Michigan City High School this year, said she was instantly worried about her mother and brother after her host mother told her about the earthquake before school Friday. Even though it happened in northeast Japan, 200 miles away from where they live, Yamada said she knew they would have felt it.

“My father was in Vietnam on business, so I knew he’d be OK. But my mom said my brother had not come home yet,” she said. It was early afternoon in Japan when the earthquake hit. “He works at a big store like Walmart there. I did not hear anything about him all day, but he finally e-mailed me and told me he had to spend the night at work because the trains shut down.”

The disaster is easily the largest in Japan since atomic bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, said Mike Tsugawa, MCHS Japanese teacher. Nearly 1,600 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds more were missing following the powerful tsunami, according to officials, but police in one of the worst-hit areas estimated the toll there alone could be more than 10,000.

“Think if half of a town here was wiped out,” Tsugawa said.

The tsunami rushed inland within minutes of the earthquake, Tsugawa said, at some points up to six miles. Roads have been wiped out, making it hard for relief organizations to respond. His wife, Akiko Tsugawa, who is a Japanese teacher at Chesterton High School, said Japanese news stations are showing story after story of people who have lost everything in the blink of an eye. Millions in northeast Japan are without water and food, and cars left on the road are lining up to get whatever gas they can.

“Even the gas stations with a supply have only a limited amount,” she said. “They are waiting an hour in line and they can only get 10 liters, which is about two-and-a-half gallons.”

Emergencies at the nuclear plants, which automatically shut down during the earthquake, have led to an electricity shortage in Japan, where nearly 2 million households were without power Sunday. Power is now being rationed with rolling blackouts in nine centrally located cities, including Tokyo. And heat is building up in the shut-down reactors.

“I’m beginning to wonder if the tsunami is the least of their problems,” Tsugawa said.

None of Tsugawa’s in-laws or people who hosted him while he was going to school in Japan were directly affected, either, he said, save for books toppling off shelves and trains shutting down due to aftershocks.

“My partner teacher in Japan sent me a message Friday and said she was walking home from Tokyo. It’s like walking from (Michigan) City to Merrillville,” he said. “At some point on her journey the trains started up again. Her daughter got home from middle school about midnight. But these are inconveniences in comparison.”

On Friday, a group of Yamada’s friends from her home school, Zama Sogo High School in Yokohama, are supposed to be in Michigan City for a 10-day exchange program. But Yamada said her friends have told her online that they aren’t sure if they’ll be able to come if the trains can’t take them to Tokyo’s international airport.

“My friends told me school was cancelled because they can’t get there. They have not heard from the teachers and can’t reach them,” she said.

Yamada said the situation in Japan worries her.

“I’m just feeling I’m really glad I’m here,” she said. “When I go back to Japan (in June), I want to see normal Japan like before I came to America.”

How can I help?

Donating money to the American Red Cross toward their efforts to help victims of Japan’s strongest earthquake and tsunami in history is probably the best thing you can do, said Mike Tsugawa, Japanese teacher at Michigan City High School.

“Michigan City was generous in terms of donating to Haiti last year,” Tsugawa said. “I know times are hard, but if people can spare anything, even a $1 makes a difference. A million people haven’t been able to get water for three days. They’re walking miles to local water supply stations, and this is a first-world nation prepared for this kind of thing, so we’re talking a big disaster here.”

You can donate online at www.redcross.org, or text REDCROSS to 90999 from your cell phone to donate $10 to the Red Cross’ Japan relief efforts.

Tsugawa said he will also soon start fundraising for the Red Cross with the high school Japanese Club by selling Japanese candies. Japanese exchange student Akiko Yamada said the club could also make origami cranes and message cards to sell as a fundraiser.

“I’m afraid this could fade from people’s consciousness rather quickly,” Tsugawa said. “Now is the time to act.”

Cabernet IS part of the essentials. Keeping informed via BBC. Does Japan have an equivalent service? NHK? iodine tablets selling out in California...

The days drag on, and it seems to only get more scary. There was a quake in Osaka last night - I'm sitting in Osaka right now. The nuclear thing - Hiromi is stocking up on essentials. I'm stocking up on cabernet.

Glad to know you are safe. We were all concerned and remain concerned for you and your fellow residents. I have family in Japan (Tochigi, I think it is spelled) and also a former exchange student who lived with us a year. Our family is safe, but I have been unable to get info on our former exchange student (Chie Kaneko).

Keeping you in our prayers and hearts.

Magnitude 7.4 earthquake hits off Japan coast
… – 2 mins ago

TOKYO – Japan was rattled by a strong aftershock and tsunami warning Thursday night nearly a month after a devastating earthquake and tsunami flattened the northeastern coast.

The Japan meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning for a wave of up to one meter. The warning was issued for a coastal area already torn apart by last month's tsunami.

Officials say Thursday's quake was a 7.4-magnitude and hit 25 miles (40 kilometers) under the water and off the coast of Miyagi prefecture. The quake that preceded last month's tsunami was a 9.0-magnitude.

Buildings as far away as Tokyo shook for about a minute.

U.S. Geological Survey gave the preliminary magnitude as 7.4 and it struck off the eastern coast 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Sendai and 90 miles (140 kilometers) from Fukushima. It was about 215 miles (345 kilometers) from Tokyo.

The depth was 25 miles (40 kilometers). Shallower quakes tend to be more destructive.

Hundreds of aftershocks have shaken the northeast region devastated by the March 11 earthquake, but few have been stronger than 7.0.