Coachella Valley Families Making Contact With Loved Ones In Japan

People in the Coachella Valley with family and friends in Japan continue to wait and worry.

Communication is almost impossible and now there’s the threat of a nuclear meltdown.

“We don’t have enough people to help them out they just throw the dead bodies out on the coastline. This is terrible,” said Masa Asahi, a student at College of the Desert.

Asahi’s cousin lives in Sendai, ground zero for the earthquake and tsunami.

“I’m glad he’s alive, yeah.”

According to Asahi, his cousin lived through the tragedy, but now it’s a struggle for him to survive.

Like hundreds of thousands of people in Japan, he’s lost his a home and forced to sleep in his car.

He tells Asahi that food, water and other supplies are scarce.

“To get food he has to wait for 5 hours or 6 hours but he still cannot get enough food just one piece of bread,” said Asahi.

Sal Saputo’s nephew works in Tokyo.

Saputo, from Desert Hot Springs, finally got an email from him a few days ago. From the short email he received, it seems his nephew is okay, for now.

“He had to walk home. It took him 12 hours to cover 42 miles, between walking and hitchhiking. It took him quiet a while to get home,” said Saputo.

Now, family members fear turns toward the possibility of a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

“Just hope and pray that nothing happens. That nuclear cloud does not pass over Tokyo. That dissipates out into the ocean,” said Saputo.