UCLA students studying abroad in Tokyo were not affected by the 8.9 earthquake that hit the northeastern city of Sendai, Japan early Friday morning, officials reported Friday.
[Updated at 3:31 p.m.: About 80 UC students are in the country through UC’s Education Abroad Program, along with 32 faculty, staff and researchers, according to a statement from the UC Office of the President. The university is not aware of any injuries to students, staff or faculty.
Because of a long spring break, many students were not in Japan at the time of the earthquake and tsunami, the statement said. ]
The UC Education Abroad Program has an engineering program at Tohoku University in Sendai. UCLA is unaware of any undergraduate students who were in Sendai at the time of quake.
At least 15 graduate students affiliated with the UCLA Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies are studying in Japan, said assistant director Mariko Bird. She said the students are also mostly located in Tokyo and other cities south of the epicenter.
Waves caused by the earthquake reached Southern California around 8:30 a.m. Friday. Paul Huang, a seismologist with the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, said to stay away from the beach until the afternoon. A tsunami advisory is still in effect for Southern California.
While the waves in Southern California would be relatively small compared to the tsunami that struck Sendai, Huang said the waves could knock people off their feet.
Friday’s earthquake was the fifth largest ever recorded since 1900. [Updated at 3:40 p.m.: Seismologists have located the epicenter near Sendai, where more than 200 bodies were found, police told the Associated Press. The official toll was 185 killed, 741 missing and 948 injured.]
This time last year, UCLA geophysicist Paul Davis was in Sendai on sabbatical, studying earthquakes. He recalled seeing warning signs on the beach and walking uphill to view the meeting place where people would meet in the event of a tsunami.
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