By Adam Coe
The University has instigated a wide-reaching promotion of its welfare schemes in a special response to last Thursday’s Japanese earthquake.
There was initial uncertainty over whether York exchange students were currently in the hardest-hit regions of Japan.
Within 24 hours of the disaster, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Students, Jane Grenville, told Vision: “I can’t tell you whether there’s anybody [there]… at the moment.” She went on to say that she would be checking on the status of York’s students abroad later that day.
She has since confirmed that no students are on exchange from York in Japan at the moment, but that there were people here “who would be contacted” directly.
It is thought that there are between 50 and 100 Japanese students at York University, and those in need have been advised to seek university support if they wish.
Grenville explained, however, that there were complications to certain aspects of their response:
“It’s difficult just to contact the Japanese students because of data protection, so we can’t run a search on who might be affected, but if we make it clear that we’re doing something, then they can come forward.”
She suggested that the 7.1 magnitude West China earthquake had directly affected Chinese students last April, although YUSU did not make a blog post informing students what to do at the time. This year, however, the response has been more efficient. Tim Ngwena has written that YUSU has “opened up telephone lines if people can get through and we’ve alerted our support services.
“Open Door, Student Support, GSA and YUSU are all providing support for those affected by the earthquake in Japan and the ongoing Tsunami alerts in New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii.”
A note was also placed on York Extra later on Thursday promoting University-funded phone-lines for those wishing to check on family and friends.
The earthquake ranks as the fifth most powerful since 1900, according to the US Geological Survey and a major international relief effort is underway. The resulting tsunami destroyed many towns on Japan’s main island.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan stated that this was the worst crisis the country had seen since World War II, and that since Thursday there have been aftershocks felt across the country.