Harvard Workshop

The day of the 2011 Japanese Disaster, I was living in Sydney Australia, when a friend of my fathers called to ask if my mothers family was safe in Japan. None of us knew what was happening but when we turned on the TV, "EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN" was shown on the screen. My mother's first reaction was to contact her parents who were living in Hokkaido at the time and fortunately they were protected and secure. We were extremely relieved, however, I didn't understand much of what was happening. The next day at school, many of my friends and teachers were discussing the disaster. My school was a Japanese international school in Sydney, so a lot of the students seemed to be affected and some were not able to contact their family and friends back in Japan. I remember it being a week of shock and grieve for the Japanese community in Australia.