Residents of Coastal Karnataka in Japan safe; control room established in Indian Embassy

Mangalore, March 12: Most of the coastal Karnataka based expatriates living in Tsunami hit Japan, have contacted their relatives over satellite phone or internet to inform that they are safe.

Although, some families of coastal Karnataka could not contact their relatives living in Japan over telephone soon after the disaster, as the communication network had dethatched for some time, later in the evening they received messages of contentment from the devastated country.

Following are the few names who contacted their relatives in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts.

Yermal Shetty brothers:

Elladadi Balakrishan Shetty (47), and his brother, Elladadi Chandrahas Shetty (42), who run two restaurants in Tokyo, contacted their relatives in Thenka Elladadi in Yermal to inform that no serious damage was caused in their place.

Hejamadi Ajith Kumar:

Ajith Kumar (32), son of Chnadrappa Kotyan, a resident of Phalimaru Hosathota in Hegamadi village, has been to Japan two and half month ago. He contacted here wife Dr Shailaja at 6:30 pm on Friday and informed that he is safe.

Gururaj Tantri, Udupi:

Dr D Gururaj Tantri, son of retired professor of Sanskrit College Udupi and his wife, Rajashree, living in Oklahama Japan, are safe as their town, located in the southern side of Japan, remained unaffected by tsunami.

Ramanaresh Shetty, Kundapur:

Ramanaresh Shetty, a resident of Thekkatte village in Kundapur, currently working at a company in Takata Onida in Japan, contacted his wife Jyothi Shetty.

Rajaram, Vittal:

Vittal based Rajaram, son of Subrahmanya Bhat is working as an engineer in the suburbs of Tokyo. His face book status confirms that he is safe.

Udupi couples:

H S Pradipkumar and his wife Pratibha, had recently gone to Japan. They informed their family members in Udupi that they are safe.

Suresh Bhat, Uttara Kannada

Suresh Bhat, living in a Japanese town located around 650 kms away from the epicentre of the quake, informed his family members in Herur of Uttara Kannada district, he is safe and currently staying at room along with his friends.

Dr U K Krishna, Puttur:

Dr U K Krishna, who is on a visit to Japan contacted his brother Gururaj Upadhyaya in Puttur and said that he was around 2,000 kms away from Tokyo, when Tsunami hit the country.

Dhruva Narayan, Suratkal

Immediately after hearing the news of Tsunami, Dhruva Narayan, who is pursuing his PhD in Kagoshima University Japan, contacted his father Prof Babu Narayan, of NITK Suratkal, and asked them not to be frightened. Narayan also said that all of his Kannadiga friends in his town are safe.

All Indians are safe

There are no reports of casualties among the 25,000 strong Indian community in Japan which is concentrated in the Kanto and Kansai regions.

The Indian Embassy in Tokyo and the Consulate in Osaka are in touch with the community members and verifying the situation on ground.

A control room has been established in the Indian Embassy which can contacted on 00813 32622391 to 97, said a Foreign Office statement.