Two local teenagers are making their way home from Japan following the largest recorded earthquake in that country's history.
Chayse Spence of Royston and Tsitika Ledlin of Black Creek, who is also 16, have been studying in Japan as part of a year-long exchange program at the Sendai Ikuei Gakuen school in northeast Japan, one of the areas that was hardest hit by last week's 9.0-magnitude earthquake.
Spence, a student at Highland Secondary School, and Ledlin, who goes to Georges P. Vanier Secondary School, were in Tokyo on Monday waiting for a flight back to Canada, according to Chayse's mother, Raegan.
Their families arranged a flight for them Tuesday which would arrive in Canada Wednesday 鈥� but they were going to the airport Monday night in the hopes of getting a flight on standby, which would bring them home Tuesday, according to Raegan.
Raegan describes the past few days as "horrible."
"It's exhausting and emotional ups and downs 鈥� a lot of downs," she said. "We have not slept for five days. I'm thankful they're on their way home."
Since Friday, most of Raegan's contact with her son has been through text messages. They were able to Skype with him immediately after the earthquake for about 40 seconds, but that was it.
"Last night, well midnight today (Monday), was the first time I heard his voice," she said.
Raegan says her son is eager to come home.
"He can't get here fast enough," she said. "Where he stayed, he was fairly sheltered from the devastation. I don't think he knew the severity .... I think he realized, 'Oh, my God, this is way worse than I thought.' I could hear the desperation to get home."
The earthquake in Japan has had a large impact on the local school district.
Local administrators worked quickly to find out if Chayse and Ledlin were safe.
"It's like any emergency protocol involving students ... we obviously try to remain as calm as possible," said Rob Moore, the district principal for School District 71's international student program. "When you wake up Friday morning to the news there's been an earthquake, and not only an earthquake, but one in the city where we have students, we're on high alert. Contacting the families is No. 1 and finding out if they know anything."
Moore did learn from the Spence and Ledlin families that they had received initial contact right after the earthquake and that they were OK.
Very early Friday morning, Moore contacted senior management and drafted a complete backgrounder so staff at Highland and Vanier could support Chayse and Ledlin's friends.
At the same time, two 16-year-old girls from Sendai who are studying in School District 71 鈥� one at Highland and one at Vanier 鈥� were trying to find out about their families in Japan.
One of the students heard very preliminary information that her family was OK, while the other girl hadn't heard anything, according to Moore.
As well, a group and chaperone from one of the Valley's sister schools in Japan in Kushimoto, which is near Osaka, had recently arrived in the Valley, and staff supported them and took them to a computer lab to look up information and show them that their village was OK, he explained.
"Staff have been excellent," he noted. "It's quite dramatic for our school district to have that much of a profile in an incident that is 7,300 kilometres away."
After learning of the earthquake, Moore stayed in contact with the Spence and Ledlin families, and they all tried to get in touch with the school administrator in Sendai, who was eventually able to make her way to the school and provide visual confirmation that Chayse and Ledlin were OK, explained Moore.
On Saturday, they received confirmation from one of the girls from Sendai that she'd heard that her family was OK, although one grandparent had their home demolished because it was close to the ocean.
On Sunday, Moore was able to get through to one of his contacts in Tokyo, who has contacts in Sendai and was able to get in touch with the school co-ordinator.
The students got on a bus and made it to Tokyo at 3 a.m. Tuesday, Tokyo time.
"It's good news," said Moore. "It's a very, very magical day. We're all looking forward to it. To be in an earthquake that occurred at approximately midnight our time Friday and to be coming home now is incredible. I was very impressed with the parents in that they were able to remain as calm as they could."
As for the two girls from Sendai who are studying in the Valley, the district is monitoring them to see if they are holding up under the pressure of being away from family, according to Moore.
"They have very good support here," he said. "All we hope is that the news continues to be good, that their families are healthy and that they have appropriate living conditions."
writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com
