Within hours of the most powerful earthquake and tsunami every recorded in Japan, we were relieved to learn that our sister city, Tobishima Japan had received no damage and everyone in the village was doing well. Tobishima Village, near the port of Nagoya is approximately 500 miles southwest of Sendai City in northeastern Japan.

As survivors around Sendai struggle with the disaster, residents of Tobishima are able to return to their rice paddies and vegetable fields. The 8.9-magnitude earthquake set off a devastating tsunami that sent walls of water traveling east and west from the epicenter. Tobishima Village, which sits at sea level along the Eastern shore of Honshu Island, was out of the direct path of the tsunami, and was not affected.

Our sister city relationship with Tobishima Village has brought all of us closer to the people of Japan, and our hearts go out to the tens of thousands of people who are trying to put their lives back together.