UCR's Japanese Nationals Get Good News From Back Home: Families Survived Earthquake And Tsunami

All 110 Japanese nationals attending UC Riverside have confirmed their immediate families survived the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck off Japan's northeast coast, it was announced today.

According to campus officials, five of the students are from Sendai -- among the cities hardest hit by Friday's massive quake.

UCR's media coordinator, Kris Lovekin, said the university's 11 students studying in Japan under the UC Education Abroad Program have all been located and are doing fine.

One student enrolled in the UCR Extension program in Riverside was able to identify her family while watching a newscast Sunday night.

"She was watching television and she actually saw her sister holding a sign,'' said Bronwyn Jenkins-Deas, director of the UCR international program. "I just can't believe it that she found them that way. What are the chances?''

The family was in Minamisanriku, which was devastated by 30-foot-high tsunami waves immediately after the quake.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to all the affected by the horrific quake off the coast of Japan,'' said UCR Chancellor Timothy White. "We pray for our colleagues throughout Japan, and of course, we reach out to our students, faculty and staff in Riverside who are from, or have family and friends there.''

There are 12 Japanese citizens engaged in graduate studies at UCR; 23 undergraduate students; and 100 enrollees in the extension program, campus officials said.

Counseling services have been made available to the students, according to Lovekin.

Google has launched a Person Finder site : http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/?lang=en. --City News Service