As you know there was a 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan today. It was the largest earthquake Japan has ever had in the last 140 years. The earthquake happened at just before 3pm local time when the Primary and Secondary students were having their last period of the day. As the quake proof building started shaking, all the students and teachers were evacuated to a children’s park nearby. Parents came to fetch their children and as we write this email, all the students had left for their homes with their parents and guardians.

As the trains had stopped working, GIIS officials realized that while the telephones and the voice services on the mobiles services were disrupted, luckily email services on blackberries and iphones were working perfectly. GIIS immediately sent out emails to all the parents requesting their confirmation on child’s arrival at home. Many parents have already confirmed and a helpline is closely monitoring this situation together with a task force in Singapore and onsite in Japan.

Most importantly, all students and teachers are now safe and in good hands. The school suffered some damages on 4th floor which would be clear tomorrow. The initial panic among students and teachers subsided as all reached home safely. The earlier tsunami warning which sent a chilling scare among community has now subsided to some extent.

Hayashi Kenichi, a parent of GIIS Tokyo, contacted GIIS from US and informed us about child’s location in Mizue. GIIS helpdesk immediately coordinated with principal and made arrangement for the student and her caretaker to meet up with the principal and stay overnight at the principal’s residence, if required. The child and the caretaker however managed to get taxi and reached home safely.

Mr Mahesh, parent of one GIIS student reunited with his family after walking a distance of 25 kms from his office.

Enasato, GIIS student reunited with her parents, 6 hours after the school closing as the principal looked after the student at TOBU Community centre.

Many parents in touch with GIIS has felt that today’s incident has resulted in their rebirth.

Quick Highlights

• 270 of 274 students and their parents have been contacted and confirmed safe at home.
• All telephone lines are working intermittantly, hence 4 not contactable. we will followup tomorrow.
• All parents being updated via emails.
• School will be closed for 5 days next week.
• Damage control team from singapore and malaysia being dispatched.
• Damage to school building marginal.
  Click here to view some pictures of the giis japan after the worlds 5th largest earthquake hit japan on 11 mar 2011.
• Detailed building quality will be assessed during next week.

Kudos to all staff and teachers of GIIS Tokyo for their initiative and extra efforts to make sure the students are safely reached home

Let us all pray for safety of all our students and teachers and their families and hope they are all safe.

We will keep you updated further on this situation.