Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 20, 1995 TAG: 9501200104
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
She dials a series of numbers that cross the seas and ring her sister's phone.
Each time it rings busy, adding to her worry. Oertel's sister, brother-in-law and two nephews live in Kobe, the Japanese city that was rocked by a 6.8 magnitude earthquake this week.
"I'm so worried about them," said Oertel, of Roanoke. "The first thing I did when I heard about the earthquake was use the telephone. I've tried three days now. Anytime I get up, I try to call them."
Oertel says she has called her sister's number at least 20 times. She also has tried to locate the family through the American Red Cross in Washington.
Oertel last saw her sister - whose name is Noriko - and her family last April. Oertel and her husband, Steve, stayed with them two weeks - their first visit in more than 10 years.
"I just want to know everybody's OK," Oertel said. "I feel like buying a plane ticket and just fly down."
The Roanoke Valley chapter of the American Red Cross is helping area residents - like Tomomi Nishio, a visiting teacher at W.E. Cundiff Elementary School - locate immediate family members in Japan, said Terry Lewis, director of communications.
The organization was ready to file a health and welfare inquiry with the Red Cross in Japan for Nishio, whose family lives in Kyoto, 50 miles from Kobe. But when they contacted Nishio, who had been trying to reach her family day and night by phone, they learned she had finally contacted them.
And all is well.
"Things are not so bad in Kyoto," Nishio said after talking with her mother Wednesday evening and again Thursday morning.
Lewis said the Red Cross has had a few phone calls from people in the Roanoke area who are trying to locate family in the quake region.
"We are able to get through through our satellite communication and our lines when other telephone lines are down," she said. "Some of our inquiries are able to be made even though the family members cannot contact their relatives."
Several people have called about friends, but the Red Cross is not allowed to handle those kinds of inquiries, Lewis said.
"If someone is looking for a U.S. citizen who happens to be located there, those inquiries should be made through the State Department," she added.
People looking for information about U.S. citizens who are not in the military should call (202) 647-7310, the U.S. State Department's citizen emergency services line. Japanese nationals inquiring about immediate family can call the Roanoke Valley Red Cross chapter's emergency services number, (703) 985-3560.
Staff writer Kimberly N. Martin contributed information to this story.
by CNB