It has been eight years since I came to Japan, and I once experienced the strong Miyagi-oki Earthquake. However, The Great East Japan Earthquake was so huge without any comparison that I was tremendously surprised at it.

　After safety confirmation at the temporal refuge, which was the parking area in front of the Research Center, each of us got shelter foods, such as biscuits and water, from the staffs at the university and went home.

　At home, the furniture had not fallen down and there was no problem. At that night, to his kindness, the landlord of my apartment came and picked me up to the shelter. I joined the seniors of the laboratory at the shelter, and we stayed there together. Though we got foods there, it was slightly cold.

　After four days, as electricity and gas were restored, I went back to my apartment. Water was not restored due to the broken water pipe and I had to commute to the nearby water station till the end of the month. I bought foods in line at a supermarket or my friends shared foods with me.

How did your family at home country react?

　Two days after the earthquake, I got hold of my family in Korea. My parents told me to return to Korea soon, but I wanted to overcome that situation with my friends at church with whom I had been through our hard times for a long time. So I argued with my parents whether I stay in Japan or go back to Korea. The news also had been reported in Korea, and my mother was especially worried about me watching the picture of tsunami on TV. Reports of the nuclear plants and the hydrogen detonation later worsen her anxiety.

　I found that Korean reports on The Great East Japan Earthquake included excessive contents. While they were telling in Japan that the situation was moving toward settlement, Korean reports seemed overreacting though the earthquake itself was not too much affecting to them. My parents were in Korea and had to believe what they say in Korea, it was hard for them to believe what I said to them.

　Finally, I went back to Korea for about ten days at the end of April, before the Japanese Golden Week. My relatives and friends in Korea somehow reproached but my parents finally sent me back to Japan warmly without a word, hopefully understanding my mind.

What kinds of volunteers did you do?

　I volunteered at South Korean Consulate General in Sendai and at the Sendai International Center.

　At the South Korean Consulate General, I was in charge of the telephone counseling and the bus reservation for the homecoming applicants by the end of March.

　At the Sendai International Center, the Sendai Disaster Multilingual Support Center was set up and I was in charged of the translation of information about Sendai City into Korean from Japanese, the telephone counseling, and visiting service for translation to shelters. On the telephone counseling, it was pretty tough to talk with the people who were panicked. However, it was a good experience for me to do my best to be an aid for people who were in trouble.

　In case of the unexpected situation like this quake, setting up the organizations, like Sendai Disaster Multilingual Support Center which supports and provides information in their mother tongue, is necessary indispensability. I am proud of the members at the Sendai International Center and also admire them for setting it up and dealing with it in spite of troubles of their own.

Please describe what you think about the recovery and reconstruction from this natural disaster.

　I was in the fifth grade at the elementary school when there was the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995 and I remember that I had been very impressed by the report on TV that Japanese had been orderly waiting for each turn to come around in line to receive shelter foods even at the disaster. As well as that time, in Sendai City, I saw exactly the same scene with my own eyes as the one in 1995 and it deeply touched my heart and moved me to the tears. This Japanese ethics or moral value holds high in the world, I think.

　Apart from that, the staff of the company, where I had been working part-time as a garden designer, told me that tsunami had engulfed the house we had visited for the garden design and the clients had been victims of tsunami. I was very sorry to hear that and sunk in grief because I couldn’t do anything for them.

　In fact, I feel peace in my heart when I am in Sendai City. I am wishing Sendai to revive soon as it was that would make us live our wonderful lives and make us eat the delicious oysters at Matsushima town. I am really wishing Miyagi and Sendai to be as lively as ever. I will do whatever I can do for that.