On March 11, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 shook the foundations of Japan and left its people in disarray.

Five discussion panelists presented different aspects relating to the situation in Japan in the Asian Heritage Month kick off event on Friday titled “Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster in Japan and Beyond.”

The topics discussed during the event included the geographic aspects of the earthquake, the sociological effects on society as a whole, the meteorological details of the disaster, the view of resulting nuclear implications and the history of earthquakes in Japan.

Jonathan Jones, a sophomore engineering physics major and the vice president of the Asian American Association, said specific information on the disaster is not very widespread and the panelists successfully addressed every aspect of the event.

“It was nice to understand the disaster from so many different viewpoints as they addressed all kinds of topics and it was incredibly helpful to see the complexity of the disaster to know what it really is,” Jones said.

The panelists included Jinhee Lee, an associate professor of history and coordinator of the Asian studies program, Cameron Craig, a geography professor, David Linton, a physics professor, William Lovekamp, a sociology professor and Katie Johnson, a geology professor.

During Lee’s segment regarding past earthquakes in Japan, Yoshie Lord, an assistant accounting professor who was born and raised in Japan, presented the current situation from the effects of the earthquake.

Lord said she contacted personal friends who experienced the earthquake, including a professor teaching at a private university in Sendai, Japan.

“After four or five days, I heard from her and she told me that there is no food, no water and she said she cannot see her future because everything is gone,” Lord said. “I just heard from her again on March 28 and she said the center of Sendai is starting to recover, but there are still many areas that do not have gas or water and she has not been able to take a shower since the earthquake.”

Jones said Lord’s presentation had the greatest impact on him because she provided first-hand accounts of the current situation in Japan.

“It was very moving to be able to learn about very personal aspects coming out of the disaster in Japan and to be able to really know how people are struggling,” Jones said.

Lee said she thinks a topic like this can be approached and understood better by combining the natural science, social science and humanity aspects, along with the technological and economic impact from a business perspective.

“When I tried to organize this event it was my main motive to bring people together from different areas and students together who are majoring in different fields to try to experience how an issue like this is a historic moment to have this scale of disaster,” Lee said. “It will be interesting to see how the world is going to respond to this.”

Lee said others were able to share their thoughts, concerns and efforts to help the present and future victims of the disaster.

Jones said the Asian American Association is planning to sell paper cranes for $1 to donate to the Japan Red Cross.

“The fundraiser is based off of the Japanese myth that if you make 1,000 paper cranes, you will have a wish granted and I think it is a very familiar idea for people to relate to,” Jones said.

The fundraiser is scheduled for Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Coleman Hall.

“As the nuclear scare and economic impact of the disaster demonstrate, we are all connected as members of the global village, and we need to support each other at a time like this,” Lee said.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].