Luke Happle a Coordinator for International Relations (CIR) and Prefectural Advisor for the JET Programme recently shared an account of his experience on 11th March and the weeks that followed with SOAS.
Luke who lives and works in Sendai, the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, graduated from SOAS (BA Japanese) in 2009.
He was on the 13th floor of his office building when the quake struck. He describes how he sheltered under his desk as alarms sounded and items from shelves crashed to the floor around him. He continues to describe the horror as he and his colleagues learned of the approaching tsunami and watched as "cars and houses [were] casually washed away like they were toys."
In his account, Luke describes witnessing the devastation in Ishinomaki and his hopes for the future. You can read his account on the SOAS website here.
