This story has been updated from its original version to reflect that Japan has more than 120 million people, not 12 million.
Octavia Clairmont said she doesn't know what's in store for her in Japan, but she isn't leaving.
The senior Japanese and telecommunications major has been studying in Tokyo since October.
She was at a training seminar for a college ministry team when the 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck in Japan Friday morning.
"I started hearing movements, and I thought somebody was running behind me," she said. "I felt like, ‘Is this really happening?'"
She said she wasn't nervous. It just felt surreal. She wasn't able to contact her parents until the day after the quake, but still her mom knew she was OK.
"She knew that God had his hand on me at that moment," Clairmont said. "She knew that I would do what's right and make the right choices."
Several hundred miles away from Sendai, Japan, which was hit hardest, the Ball State student said the biggest impact for Tokyo is a food shortage at grocery stores.
"People are in panic mode," she said.
Clairmont is on Spring Break at Tokyo Gakugei University, and she said the hallways of her residence hall are quiet. Some of her international classmates aren't coming back to finish the term, but Clairmont said she doesn't want to leave what she calls her second home in Japan. She plans to come back to Japan as a missionary after she graduates.
"Some people are worried [about radiation from the nuclear plants], but it's more political-type issues, like is the government hiding things from us?" she said. "I'm not too worried about it right now."
What she is worried about is apathy. In an interview via Skype, tears rolled down her face as the student said she hopes others will try to help.
"Just thinking about it kind of hurts me right now," she said. "I see photos of cities wiped out, and it breaks my heart."
Clairmont is one of four students studying internationally in Japan this semester. University spokesman Kevin Burke confirmed that the students are safe but declined to offer their names, citing Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act restrictions.
Back at Ball State, student Sam Henry dealt with the quake nearly firsthand when the jarring vibrations and panic struck as he Skyped with a friend who lives in Tokyo.
They were talking via the video messaging system when suddenly, "He said a few words in English profanity. He yelled for his mom. We didn't know what was going on," Henry said.
"The computer started shaking and then it went black."
Henry was nervous for several hours while he waited to hear back from his friend, but later found out that his friend and the family were safe.
"The damage could have been worse if Japan wasn't so prepared," Henry said.
Like Henry, several Ball State students were worried about friends and family in Japan, especially the handful of foreign exchange students on campus this semester.
"My mom said ... in Japan, it's kind of like a movie because so many things are broken by the tsunami," Akito Shibuya, a junior from northern Japan who is studying at Ball State this semester, said. Of the mounting toll of dead and missing, he said, "That's so many people, and also I am sad."
Machiko Hayashi said he was relieved the quake didn't strike his hometown, but felt helpless. Hayashi is a foreign exchange student from Nagoya, Japan, several hundred miles southwest of Sendai.
Students from Japan say it's not uncommon to feel an earthquake several times a year, and small earthquakes take place on the island nearly everyday. Kaname Naito, a sophomore journalism major from Sapporo, an island north of Sendai, said he was surprised to hear about such a massive quake.
"I wasn't home [when I heard about it]," he said. "I asked my girlfriend in Japan to contact my parents and see if they were OK. This is so big for her and very frightening. She was scared to watch the videos of the tsunami."
Japanese professor Guohe Zheng said he was impressed with the country's cooperative attitude.
"Much of Japan is under the blackout," he said. "That's some inconvenience, but nobody complains about that. There's 120 million people in Japan, and not a single looting. Everything is orderly."
He said the disaster is likely to raise awareness of the culture in Japan and the need for help and funding.
"I'm impressed with how resilient the whole country is."
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