Students honor Japan earthquake victims

A year after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, leaving thousands dead and tens of thousands homeless, two UNM students from Japan are hoping to make a difference in their home country.

UNM students Naoko Yoshida and Sayaka Umei have been fundraising this week, and holding information sessions in commemoration of the March 11, 2011 catastrophe.

Since the earthquake, nearly 16,000 people have been killed and more than 3,000 are missing, according to Japanese government reports.

Yoshida and Umei, along with the other exchange students from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, are holding information sessions at the SUB from 2 to 5 p.m. for anyone interested in learning about the earthquake and tsunami, which destroyed nearly 130,000 buildings.

“We are doing this as part of the united effort from Japanese students all over the U.S. and Canada to raise support for Japan,” Yoshida said. “We believe that the people in Tohoku need messages of support from people all over the world to gain the strength they need to overcome their misery.”

Today at 6:30 p.m., five exchange students from Japan will set up candles to form the numbers “311” outside Zimmerman Library to commemorate the first anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan.

Yoshida said the group is raising money to send to Miyagi, located in Tohoku, an area in the northern part of Japan where the most damage was done.

In an interview posted on a bulletin at the group’s display in the SUB, a 17-year-old school girl said she did not know a tsunami was coming after the earthquake because all communication was interrupted during the blackout caused by the earthquake. Like the girl, thousands and were unprepared for the tsunami that followed.

“We have a flag of New Mexico that we want to send to Tohoku with messages from people who come by to show their support,” Yoshida said.

Umei said the group hopes not only to raise funds for food and water, but also to help students here in New Mexico understand the impact the catastrophe has had on their home county.

“We are also doing this project because we don’t want people to forget what happened in Japan,” Umei said. “I feel like people don’t know enough about what happened a year ago or what is the current situation for the people in Tohoku.”