Former UCLA star J.R. Sakuragi (formally J.R. Henderson) e-mailed a first-hand account to JerseyChaser.com of his experience during the 9.0 Japan magnitude earthquake off the east coast of Japan last Thursday.
Sakuragi is playing in Japan along with former Bruin teammate Charles O’Bannon.
“I was in Tokyo when it happened. On the 14th floor of a hotel that was swaying so much that when we ran down the hallway we were being thrown side to side.
AdvertisementI was getting treatment at the time so I had to run down 14 flights of stairs with no shoes and a sprained mcl. Maids and guest were following us….they were crying which made it worse. I had to usher one maid down the stairs who was about to lose it.
Me and two other Americans on my team stayed outside for about 8 hours cause aftershocks were coming every 20 mins it seemed like. All night. Hung out at the gym we were supposed to play at that night.
They gave us Internet access so we could skype our family who were in Kariya (near Nagoya). All phone lines were down so we couldn’t call them after the quake hit.
Slept in the lobby of the hotel that night on the floor by the entrance way so we could run out if anything happened. We were able to get out of there the next day. Trains were PACKED that night.
I’m far away from the bad area now. Charles is in Tokyo so he is feeling all the aftershocks. It’s def chaotic near Sendai.
It’s still pretty bad here so keep us in your prayers please.”