On an air force base in Japan, Beth Moreau heard the metal blinds in her home start to rattle, and saw her daughter's rocking horse moving on its own. Then everything around her started to shake and rattle, pictures on the wall and dishes and glasses.
The 26-year-old Fayetteville woman scooped up her daughter and huddled in the living room, doing her best to calm the 2 year old through the aftershocks.
Afterward, she recalled having weathered tornadoes in Georgia. The base in northern Japan, spared the devastation of other areas, will become a refuge for others.
"It kind of reminds me of being in Georgia during [Hurricane] Katrina," Moreau said. "We could help the evacuees."
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Paco Rodriguez woke up in his Cumming home Friday and panicked. A massive earthquake had struck Japan, his wife told him. His mother was visiting his sister at the Misawa military base in Japan.
Rodriguez, 30, started scrambling for information. The web page for the military base said the quake knocked out electricity and phones, even cell phones. He studied a map on the Internet and read news reports. The more he could discern, the more he worried.
His mother had planned this trip for months. She had suffered a brain aneurysm in 2009 and had to get medical clearance to make the visit. Relatives started calling, some weeping in fear.
His wife found a story that said all the people on the base have been accounted for. But so many questions remain.
"I'm still apprehensive. I still haven't heard from them," he said.
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Friday was a day of worry and prayer at Seigakuin Atlanta International School in Doraville, which caters to many Japanese and American students.
About 40 students have family members in areas effected by the earthquake. News arrived slowly. One sixth-grade boy learned his grandparents were evacuated from their neighborhood, but they were OK.
"We are a Christian school. We had a special prayer for the people over there," said principal Minako Ahearn. "We hope no bad news will come."
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