Uncertainty about Japan’s destabilized nuclear reactors has prompted Ohio University to cancel Study Abroad to the beleaguered nation this quarter.|
Students who were in Japan were offered a chance to come home following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Sendai. However, once the U.S. Department of State issued a travel warning to the region, OU officials decided to cancel all programs in Japan for the quarter, said Catherine Marshall, director of the Office of Education Abroad.
“It’s the after effects we worried about. There’s a lot of uncertainty about the stability of the nuclear reactors. There are a lot of unknowns,” said Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi.
Although the four OU students in Japan were studying in Tokyo and Nagoya at the time of the earthquake, instability at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant north of the cities was cited as the main reason OU students were called home.
The four were confirmed safe in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami but have experienced multiple aftershocks, which have wracked the central areas of the nation, Marshall said.
“We were keeping a close eye on the situation,” Marshall said, “As the situation at the nuclear reactor worsened … we decided it was the best course of action.”
The four students already in the country at the time were brought home, and those planning to go to Japan this quarter were delayed until the fall, Marshall said, adding that the students would be reimbursed for the money they paid for their programs.
“Because of the way the program was set up, (the students) were on break — the universities start up the semester around April 1,” Marshall said. “They had finished a complete semester. It made a bad situation a little better.”
Lombardi said the move was a “prudent decision.”
“It’s the right decision at this point given the uncertainty in Japan,” Lombardi said. “We don’t want to send anyone into a situation that is evolving, and we don’t know how it’s going to resolve.”
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