Japan earthquake and tsunami: Missing Melbourne man Jason Briffa safe

• Video
• Video
• Image

Melbourne man flees Japanese quake

Former Melbourne man Andrew Peyton kept the camera rolling as he left his Tokyo office during Friday's 8.9 magnitude earthquake.

Japan quake upgraded to magnitude 9

Japan's Meteorological Agency upgrades the devastating earthquake that struck the country to magnitude 9

Australian Jason Briffa, 25, has not been heard from since a tsunami swept through Sendai, Japan, where the Point Cook man was working teaching English. The tsunami was triggered by a massive magnitude 9 quake that struck on Friday afternoon off the coast of Japan. Source: Supplied

Hope afloat: students in Sendai use a rubber raft to try to get food from their submerged dormitory. Picture: AP Source: AP

< Prev

 of 2

Next >

Melbourne man Jason Briffa is safe in Japan. Source: Herald Sun

"I'm doing fine and staying positive but there's little for anyone to use," he wrote.

"In my town there's no power, gas, running water or petrol.

"Every night it's pitch black and everyone must be mindful of food and water since it's scarce. My phone is no good most of the time and making and receiving international calls is impossible.

"I can only use a public phone for national calls. To my best knowledge, no one was killed in my town (Shibata town) and only a few buildings were heavily damaged.

"The ground still shakes which sometimes causes a little worry. Since the earthquake hit, I've mostly just been helping the locals with the cleaning including the school I work at. It's hard out here but we're pulling through."

Jason’s relieved mum, Mary, said she had also just spoken to him online through Skype.

"He sounds in good spirits, as normal pretty cheeky but he said he would try and come home as soon as possible but it was a bit difficult at the moment," she said.

Mary said she is relieved Jason is OK but still wants him home.

Jason finally got a message to his family last night, saying he was safe following Friday's earthquake and had sought shelter in a small village in Sendai.

Mary said she was upset at the lack of communication in finding the 25-year-old teacher.

"Obviously, I'm happy, but I would still like to talk with him and find out how he is," she told the Herald Sun.

"He is still in a place where there is no food or electricity. I've been waiting to hear some good news, and it took his employer to ring me and tell me he was OK.

"DFAT still don't know what is going on."

Mrs Briffa said she had emailed her son's employer, Denis Cusack, in desperation.

He had then called to tell her Jason was helping locals in the village where he had found shelter.

"That's how I found out - he rang. I was taken by surprise and all I heard was Jason is OK, he's fine.

"I blocked out everything else. I just heard the important thing."

Mr Cusack said problems with phone lines had prevented Jason from contacting his family.

"Obviously, the phone lines have been down most of the time since Friday and he (Mr Cusack) was able to get a signal and he called us," Mrs Briffa told the ABC.

"His telephone was running low on battery but he said Jason was at the Murata high school and he's been helping locals with the clean-up for the past two days."

The Point Cook English teacher had been in Sendai when the tsunami took everything in its path.

His mother never gave up hope he was alive.

"I thought either he lost his phone or it was completely dead, and he's probably out helping other people, because that's the sort of person he is," she said.

"He's a very helpful person. He's very soft-hearted. He tries to help everybody so he might be out helping others and that's why he might not be able to get in contact with me, because the area he's in, he probably doesn't have anything going at the moment."

Prior to Mr Cusack's call, Mrs Briffa had become increasingly frustrated after hearing nothing from the Department of Foreign Affairs about Jason.

Mrs Briffa said she and her sister had rung DFAT after the tsunami, but government officials called back only after reading about her son in the paper.

A Sydney woman, who also read about Mr Briffa, told Mrs Briffa her sister in Sendai would search for him in the disaster zone herself.

"She said she would physically go out and have a look for him today and get back to me," Mrs Briffa said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd said his department was working with Japanese authorities to find all missing Australians.

"We will not spare any effort in tracking down the whereabouts of each and every Australian," Mr Rudd said. 

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has not received any reports of Australian casualties in Japan.

There are 3092 Australians registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as being in Japan, 261 of them in earthquake and tsunami affected areas.

DFAT said yesterday that 2217 Australians had been confirmed as safe, 105 of them in affected areas.

More than 7100 calls have been made to DFAT offices in Canberra as desperate loved ones search for information.

Mr Rudd said people concerned about family and friends should first try to contact them on mobile phones, followed by landlines and if they still fail to make contact, should provide all details to the DFAT Crisis Centre.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has called on any Australians near the stricken Fukushima atomic energy plant to evacuate.

But the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency advised the Government there was no immediate health threat outside the 20km evacuation zone set up around the nuclear plant.
 
Concerned friends and relatives of Australians residing in Japan should contact DFAT's 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135.  If calling from overseas, the number is +61 2 6261 3305.