Fewer than 24 hours after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake unleashed a massive tsunami roughly 250 miles northeast of Tokyo, dozens of University students assembled in the Mills International Center Friday evening to grieve.
The center’s weekly Friday coffee hour kicked off with a tinge of melancholy as Japanese exchange students sat with their eyes glued to breaking news reruns depicting houses, cars and bodies being swept away by a 23-foot wall of water.
Tears flowed freely, and students of many different nationalities offered hugs and words of consolation to one another.
Japanese Student Organization President Zachary Yamada somberly addressed the assembly, asking for a brief moment of silence to honor the dead and displaced.
“For about 30 seconds,” Yamada said, “I would like this room to focus on those who have lost their lives and those who continue to struggle.”
JSO members are currently developing community outreach and fundraising efforts to bring relief to their countrymen in the wake of such a momentous natural disaster, which had claimed the lives of more than 1,500 Japanese as of Sunday afternoon.
Concerned students will begin tabling today in front of The Duck Store from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and will continue to collect donations and provide information along East 13th Avenue until Friday afternoon.
JSO has also set up a Facebook group called “University of Oregon Sendai Earthquake Relief” and a website at www.sendaiearthquakerelief.org to spread information, coordinate volunteers and collect donations.
Yamada said his organization’s first step in addressing the grave natural disaster is to inform and educate the University community, hoping to foster support and awareness for its coming relief efforts.
“A lot of people don’t realize the magnitude of this situation,” Yamada said. “We really need to make sure people know what is happening.”
As of Friday, JSO members were just beginning to brainstorm what route they will take to address the catastrophe.
“At this point, there are a lot of plans, but none of them are very developed,” Yamada said. “Right now we are just setting up ideas.”
At the meeting in the international center, Yamada invited anyone wishing to get involved with JSO’s burgeoning charitable endeavors into a back room to discuss logistics.
University political science major Saki Shibata attended the meeting out of a desire to help her country.
“My family is OK,” Shibata said. “I just worry about Japan. I want to do something.”
JSO will host a vigil this week, and is currently looking for speakers and presenters to talk about how the disaster has personally affected University members, their friends and their families.
The organization has asked anyone interested in sharing their experiences publicly to contact Kellen Wertz at wertz.kellen@gmail.com or Zachary Yamada at zyamada@uoregon.edu.
University spokesperson Julie Brown said various campus groups are working together to assist the 142 students and 11 faculty members and scholars who are Japanese citizens currently working and studying on campus.
“International Affairs is working directly with the Japanese Student Association to offer the Mills Center as a home base for students who may wish to watch the news and connect with other students and staff over this tragedy,” Brown said.
The school is reaching out to contact current students studying abroad in Japan, none of whom are in immediate danger.
“It’s a break between semesters, so nine UO students are still there or on their way back to the U.S.,” Brown said. “None of the UO programs are located near the epicenter of the earthquake.”
University President Richard Lariviere issued a brief statement Friday to those affected by last week’s calamity living both abroad and at home.
“On behalf of the University of Oregon, our hearts go out to everyone affected by the earthquake and tsunamis,” Lariviere wrote. “Events like this remind us how small the world is, and how much we value our family, friends and colleagues.”