THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 19, 1995 TAG: 9501190402
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
For Shuichi Tanaka, waiting is the hardest part as he nervously watches the toll of death rise - 330 . . . 2,000 . . . 3,000. Time is running out to find survivors.
Tanaka has six or seven relatives in Kobe - an aunt and great aunts - but he has been unable to contact any of them by telephone. His mother has called from a nearby city. She was safe, but had no news of the aunts.
``All I could think of was their safety. I was so frustrated over my ability to do nothing,'' said the 21-year-old Old Dominion University student.
Sleep is hard to come by. Concentrating on school work is impossible.
``I was like, `Oh, my God.' I started looking for the telephone numbers of my relatives. . . ,'' he said.
He tried again and again. No luck. ``I just gave it up,'' he said.
When Tanaka first heard about the earthquake, he didn't expect the damage to be severe.
He rushed to his Norfolk apartment to watch the evening news. He couldn't believe what he saw.
``I just felt for the first time that the power of nature is overwhelming. This is something that I never expected could happen to the people I know. It's devastating.''
About an hour after he first watched the newscast, he got a call from his mother. She is hospitalized with complications from a bad cold. Tanaka hasn't been able to call her back.
``We don't know how they're doing right now,'' Tanaka said of his aunts. ``We're just waiting for good news, which, hopefully, will be that everybody is OK.''
Today, he will try to reach his grandmother in Kagoshima, a small island in the south of Japan. He also will try to contact a Japanese relief agency in hopes of getting information about his aunts.
``I'm trying to control myself. I really want to talk to someone,'' he said. ``All I have to do is be strong for myself just in case the worst thing has happened to my relatives.''
The only thing he can do, he said, is pray. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN, Staff
Shuichi Tanaka, a 21-year-old Old Dominion University student, has
been unable to contact an aunt and several great-aunts in Japan. But
he has heard from his mother, who is safe.
by CNB