Emi Young PO ’13 was on a plane headed for Japan when the earthquake struck on March 11. She was going for her spring break to visit family, as she usually does at least once a year. But half an hour before landing, the plane changed course, and Young found herself stranded on Hokkaido, a large northern island, for over a day.
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She caught the first flight she could to Chiba province, where her family lives. Luckily, they were a safe distance from the earthquake epicenter and Fukushima power plant, where a nuclear disaster was unfolding. But Young said despite her family’s safety, the national impact was undeniable, as the country’s ongoing challenges could be seen in telling changes to usual routines.
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“The day we finally got there, the train service was limited, which is very unusual because the Japanese are very dependent on their public transportation, and there were scheduled power outages all over the city,” Young said. “The whole time I was there, there were aftershocks, but people just reacted calmly at that point, saying, ‘Oh, another earthquake.'”
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Now back at Pomona, Young is now one of many Claremont students looking for any way to lend a hand. After hearing several students and faculty express a desire to aid relief efforts, Pomona Japanese Professor Kyoko Kurita called an organizational meeting on Tuesday, March 22, for all 7C community members interested in planning a campus campaign.
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“It is best to focus our efforts, which is why a meeting between students at all of the colleges is necessary,” Kurita said. “I want to gather forces and make sure we are not putting in twice the work on the same thing, or working against each other to achieve the same goal.”
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Some students, like Julia Gueron CM ’11, have already begun fundraising and campaigning on their own. Not only is Gueron her school’s Community Service Coordinator, her mother is also Japanese. These were strong incentives for her to take the initiative over spring break to raise money with three other students.
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“We took two hours to go door to door with Japanese snacks and asked students for donations,” Gueron said. “We raised around $250 in that short time, which will be going straight to the relief effort.”
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Other efforts at the 5Cs related to the events in Japan include daily candlelight and crane-making services from 4 to 5 p.m. this week at the McAlister Center, increased counseling at Monsour Counseling and Psychological Services in the Tranquada Center, a presentation on geophysics and nuclear safety at Harvey Mudd on March 23, and a concert benefit at Scripps on April 3. Students at the organizing meeting on Tuesday discussed plans to coordinate these events across the 5Cs and start new initiatives in the coming weeks.
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Naomi Laporte PO ’11 attended the meeting in hopes of helping to raise money and awareness at the colleges. She has family living in Sendai and Kesennuma, seaside cities in Miyagi Prefecture that were hit hard by the tsunami, and was relieved to hear that they were all safe when she made contact with them last week.
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Laporte said one reason she is getting involved on campus is that she is worried people are not as concerned as they should be about the country’s need for aid.
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“There have been some articles going around that say blatantly that Japan doesn’t need your money, and this is causing outrage within the community,” she said. “It’s based on faulty logic about Japan being a developed country that can deal with one of the biggest natural disasters, [with costs] estimated at $235 billion. Japan certainly does need our help and our support.”
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“Just the fact that Japan is asking for foreign aid is almost unprecedented,” agreed Nanako Yano PO ’11, an international student from Japan. Yano started a Facebook group immediately after the disaster called “Claremont Colleges for Japan” in order to help coordinate fundraising efforts.
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“There was a big earthquake in Kobe in 1995, and in that case, the government did not ask for any foreign aid,” Yano said, referring to the Great Hanshin Earthquake, in which reconstruction costs were over $100 billion. “The fact that they are actually being open to the world and asking for money shows that they really do need it.”
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Young echoed this sentiment, adding that she saw signs that the Japanese people were attempting to continue business as usual, but were struggling to put the country back on track.
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“I know there was a lot of appreciation, and I think it is a good thing that the international community offered aid,” Young said. “It was especially heartwarming after a disaster this size to see countries that Japan often has tense relations or rivalries with step forward to send people and supplies.”
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A major concern of all students present at the organizing meeting was the fact that after disasters such as this, individuals often move on and tend to think little about the extensive clean-up and economic, social, and physical structures that can take years to rebuild. Student expressed hope that by making the relief effort a college-wide cause, more students would get involved and continue their momentum over the coming months.
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“I personally am getting as involved as I can in this effort not just because my mother is Japanese, but also because I think it’s as important to dedicate my time to this as it is [to donate] money,” Gueron said. “I know that students feel strapped for cash, but it is still important to keep updated as to what is going on. Staying educated and keeping in mind what these people are going through can be just as important as opening your wallet.”