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St. Petersburg, Florida - A lot of people here in the Tampa Bay area are worried and feeling helpless wondering if their loved ones and friends in Japan are okay. Technology and social media is making all the difference in a painfully difficult situation.
For Fred Smith of St. Petersburg watching the news reports throughout the day on Friday were grueling. His son, Major Stephen Smith is in the Air Force. Major Smith and his wife Karla and their daughters live in Okinawa.
While cell phone service in Japan is spotty Fred Smith's phone at his home in St. Petersburg rang of the wall . Friends and extended family members called saying they were also concerned.
Fred Smith says callers wanted to know, "Is our family involved and have we heard anything and lets get a phone call over there."
The family received the news they'd been hoping for though by way of an e-mail from Karla in which she wrote, "Hello all, I just wanted to let you know that we are all fine."
It was a similar story for Tracy Stasurak who says, "Just trying not to worry too much until there was something to worry about so the first thing in order was to get in touch with them."
Thanks to Skype the worried mother found out about her stepson Stephen and his wife Samantha. Stasurak says, "It's just a relief to know that they're okay."
The two she says live on a Navy base just south of Tokyo.
She adds, "It's nice that the internet exists nowadays because before the internet if they didn't have phones there was no way to get in touch with people - so because we're in contact a lot more we can keep that closeness."
Meanwhile five Japanese high school students, a teacher, and a tour guide from Nagano are currently in the Tampa Bay area on an exchange trip as part of a relationship with the city of Clearwater. Nagano has been Clearwater's sister city since 1959. The group is now stranded here in Florida while trying to find out about their loved ones and friends back in Japan.
The University of South Florida has six students studying over in Japan. School officials say they're reportedly all okay.
Tammie Fields, 10 News
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