Back from Japan, County Administrator Urges Locals to Give

At first, Alameda County Administrator Susan Muranishi thought the tires on her tour bus had burst. 

Muranishi was shuttling between meetings in central Tokyo March 11, with a delegation of Japanese-American leaders, at the tail end of a week-long trip filled with meet-and-greets with business people and elected officials.

It was after 5 p.m. Friday, March 11, when the bus pulled into the hotel parking lot for the next round of meetings. That's when the earthquake hit.  

"The bus started rocking and rolling," Muranishi said. "It was like a roller coaster ride for about two minutes." 

The United States Geological Survey recently upgraded the earthquake that struck off northern Japan from an 8.9 to a 9.0, among the strongest in recorded history. Yet, contrasting with scenes of devastation wrought by the tsunami in the north have been tales and images of life proceeding almost normally in Tokyo in the wake of the temblor and dozens of aftershocks. 

"After that initial shaking stopped, we were escorted into the building and told our meeting would proceed, because it was on the first floor," Muranishi said. 

Just as the meeting was about to get under way, a strong aftershock rattled the hotel. The administrator described watching, through the hotel's plate glass windows, the sway of cranes on nearby highrises. 

For Muranishi, who remembers running down the stairs from the fifth floor of the Alameda County Office Building in Oakland after the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, the experience was different.  

"The shaking subsided and we went back into our meeting," she said. "It was very orderly and calm. People were crossing with the streetlights." 

Only later did she and others become aware of the tsunami in Northern Japan. Now back in Oakland, she's urging locals to donate.  

"Our resolve now is to really work with the relief effort in the U.S.," Muranishi said. 

In response, the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to reactivate the Alameda County Disaster Relief Fund.

First organized in response to 9/11, the fund allows the county 9,000 employees to donate their vacation time, in addition to cash, to the victims of major disasters, including the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean and the 2010 quake in Haiti. 

Officials stressed that anyone can donate to the fund. Half of the proceeds from the upcoming Women's Hall of Fame will go toward the relief effort. 

One hundred percent of donations will be directed to citizen relief and rebuilding efforts through the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) and the U.S. - Japan Council, according to a county press release.  

Cash donations may be contributed via personal check payable to the Alameda County Disaster Relief Fund, c/o the Auditor-Controller Agency, 1221 Oak St., Room 238, Oakland CA 94612.