Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 24, 1995                   TAG: 9501240110
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PHONE CALL RELIEVES FEAR

Last week, meals were not a priority. She was worried about her sister, brother-in-law and nephews who lived in Kobe.

Oertel, of Roanoke, had been trying all week to call her family, but she got only busy signals or an operator. Friday, she got through. Everyone was OK, her sister told her. Oertel said her sister's house was intact, though her neighbors' houses on both sides were destroyed. One nephew's house was demolished.

Her sister said she had no gas or water. Her sister's 9-year-old granddaughter cries every morning that she wants to go to school, but the school is in ruins, Oertel said. ``I just wanted to hear my sister's voice,'' Oertel said. ``She said, `We are OK.' And I said, `Oh gosh.' Now, I eat like crazy.''