Last week’s mammoth earthquake occurred more than 4,500 miles away, but for some North Olympic Peninsula residents, the tragedy in Japan couldn’t have hit closer to home.
During the first few hours after the magnitude 8.9 quake struck, a bevy of e-mails and phone calls were sent from Peninsula residents to friends, family and colleagues in the devastated nation.
Some — such as Teri Nomura of Port Townsend — took comfort in knowing that those they were trying to reach were far away from the epicenter.
But others, like the Rev. Ted and Marilyn Mattie of Port Angeles, found they could do nothing but worry.
Their 27-year-old daughter, Amy Mattie, was in Sendai, one of the hardest-hit cities, at the time of the quake.
It wasn’t until 2 a.m. Friday, more than four hours after the initial quake, that she was able to phone her parents.
“It was just a tremendous sense of relief,” Ted Mattie said.
“We were just caught up watching what was going on and wondering how she was,” he said.
Marilyn Mattie, who answered the phone, said the connection was lost after about a minute, but it was long enough for their daughter to assure them she was doing fine
Amy Mattie didn’t sound shaken but said it was “scary,” her mother said.
She told her parents that she took cover under a desk at a school and was staying at a teacher’s home.
Their daughter, Ted Mattie said, went to Japan to teach and was temporarily staying in Sendai for training.
Teri Nomura of Port Townsend said she believed her father would be safe since he was traveling on the western side of the island, but the short e-mail he sent after the quake saying he was doing fine was more than welcomed.
“We are in Kanazawa. All fine here,” wrote Carl Nomura, also of Port Townsend.
“It’s always good to know,” she said.
The Peninsula’s three sister cities in Japan may have been spared the worse.
But it’s unclear if delegations from Mutsu City (Port Angeles’ sister city) and Ichikawa (Port Townsend’s sister city) will visit later this month as previously planned.
“I’m anxious to see if they’re still coming,” said Cindy Sofie, Peninsula International Relations Association president.
Nine children from Mutsu City were scheduled to visit Port Angeles on March 29.
In Mutsu City, the quake knocked out power for a day and caused a “dwarf tsunami,” but the community at the northern tip of Japan’s main island was otherwise doing fine, residents there said in e-mails to Sofie and Port Angeles City Manager Kent Myers.
“There was no electricity last night, so it was dark and cold,” wrote Satoshi Tomioka of the Mutsu City International Relations Association.
“I had absolutely no sleep because after shock came one after another.”
Nine students from Ichikawa, about 500 miles southwest of Sendai, were scheduled to visit Port Townsend this Saturday, said Catherine McNabb, who is organizing the trip.
McNabb said Friday she sent an e-mail to a contact there but had not heard back.
Sequim’s sister city, Shiso, is located near Ichikawa and is the farthest of the three from the epicenter.
Sequim Mayor Ken Hays said Saturday that he hadn’t heard how the city fared.
“As far as the tsunami stuff, they were removed, I’m assuming, from that,” he said.
“As far as the earthquake, I just don’t know.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
