Editor’s Note: The story has been updated to reflect the accurate location of Burke’s family.

A massive 8.9-magnitude quake struck Japan at 2:46 p.m. local time Friday, sending the nation into chaos and signaling tsunami watches for places like California, Oregon and Hawaii.

“I was up late last night when it first happened,” said sophomore Kyle Burke, whose dad and grandpa are currently in Tokyo on a business trip. “We can’t get a hold of them. I’m not too worried, but my mom is.”

When the building pressure between two of the earth’s tectonic plates suddenly gives way, rupturing the earth’s crust for 180 miles beneath the sea floor, no one remains unaffected.

Eathquake results stretch from Japan to Biola

The shaking could be felt in Tokyo, 230 miles away from the epicenter, where sophomore film major Steven Lee went to high school, and where his family still lives.

Lee found his aunt’s message around 2 a.m. on his Facebook wall.

“I called your mom and brother, they are O.K., but we are not able to reach your dad yet,” it read.

A few hours later, he learned that his dad had returned safely from work that day.

“At first I didn’t pay much attention to it because we get earthquakes fairly frequently,” said Lee, whose parents are missionaries in Japan. “I didn’t realize how big it was.”

Quake causes far-reaching tsunami

“I was on Facebook and I saw it a minute after it happened,” said freshman Wyland Luke, who hails from Hawaii. “First it was the tsunami siren warnings in Hawaii, so I Googled it and saw that it was an 8.9 earthquake.”

The subduction quake, similar to the one that occurred in Sumatra in 2004, triggered tsunami waves which quickly rolled towards Hawaii and reached the California and Oregon coasts by morning.

Biola senior Sophia Davis was vacationing in Waikiki beach on the Hawaiian island of Oahu when tsunami warning sirens began going off across the island. The sirens, which began at 10 p.m., rang through the night until the tsunami hit land around 3 a.m.

Residents and tourists evacuated inland or climbed above the fourth floor of their buildings where they were told they would be safe. Although Davis and her family were staying on the 16th floor of their hotel, she said the hours of waiting were still nerve-wracking. The tsunami landed in Oahu last, after the islands of Kauai and Maui, and caused minimal damage, according to Davis.

Luke said there was only about a foot of water in his hometown and that his family and friends were safe.

Biola students affected

Even at Biola University, halfway around the world from the earthquake epicenter off the shore of the Japanese island of Honshu, students are feeling the effects of the quake.

“Last night students texted me to be praying for Japanese students,” said International Student Association president Laura Tan. “For most of them, their families are not directly affected because they are from mainland Japan, not where the earthquake hit.”

Ivan Chung, director of International Student Services said there are between 12-15 Biola students from Japan, and many more “third culture kids” who are not originally from Japan, but who have lived there and have ties to the country.

“I prayed with a couple of them last night about 1 a.m.,” Chung said on Friday. “All know people who have lived in that region.”

Chung said that many of their families live in Tokyo, which, although several hundred miles from the earthquake epicenter, has still been heavily impacted by the quake.

“One of the students’ dads had to walk home from work for nine miles,” Chung said, noting that many highways have been closed.

Praying for the unreached in Japan

Tan said that tragedies like this remind Christians to come alongside one another in prayer and support. Part of the role of ISA is to help the community be aware that there are students who are in need. Through ISA, the prayer board has helped get information out and mobilize the community to pray.

“There are things happening outside of America,” Tan said. “We need to come alongside and be praying for this nation.”

Lee said that although some polls place the growing Christian community in Japan at around 6 percent, less than one percent of the Japanese population is Christian according to official reports.

“There’s a lot of social pressure in Japan,” said Lee, who lived there from eighth grade until he came to Biola. “You have to work really hard and appease the group mentality. It has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. It is dark as far as spirituality goes.”

Burke agreed.

“Japan is one of the most unreached people groups,” Burke said. “So the biggest thing we can do is just pray. Like 9/11 turned our country back to the idea of God and praying as a country, this may do the same thing for Japan.”

Japan crisis to touch Missions Conference

The recent tragedy is a reminder to the Biola community to be more globally aware even as it heads into the school’s annual Missions Conference.

“As soon as it hit I was thinking ‘Oh, Missions Conference,’” Luke said. “I think it will help raise awareness. I feel like it’s a prelude wake up call to the Missions Conference.”

Missions Conference staff is already thinking of ways to integrate recent events with the upcoming conference. While no special emphasis was previously planned for the country of Japan, Missions Conference director Michelle Welke said that they will be working it into the week and have asked a Japanese student to lead a prayer at one of the conference sessions. Japan will also have a table at the international marketplace, which will be open every day by the fountain.

Welke and the other directors are continuing to approach the week with an unshakable confidence, clinging to the conference theme “Set Us Ablaze” drawn from Isaiah 64.

“When I went to bed last night, I was watching news on the earthquake and I was praying that God would redeem this,” Welke said. “I went to sleep praying and I woke up praying that God would use this to shake these people awake.”

Though tragic, several students and staff members said the earthquake is undeniably an opportunity for the gospel to spread as Christians minister to people in need.

“He can use this to bring these people before Him, to bring these people to their knees,” Welke said. “God can redeem situations like this, and He will get the glory.”