Campus Alert Archive
Tufts

Director Bayne Emails at 9 AM EST, Has All 7 Tufts-in-Japan Students Confirmed Safe by 10:20

MAearthquakeadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

When the 9.0-magnitude Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011, killing nearly 20,000 people, Tufts University had seven students abroad in Japan: five in its Tufts-in-Japan program at Kanazawa University on the west coast, and two at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka. Director of Programs Abroad Sheila Bayne emailed students at 9 AM EST on March 11 to check their safety and had confirmed all seven were unharmed by 10:20 AM EST. On March 18, Tufts authorized a voluntary withdrawal with full tuition refund for the five Kanazawa students.

Alerts
3
Response
min
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
Tufts University
Private R1 · MA
~11,700 students
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from Tufts Daily reporting that Director Bayne emailed students at 9 AM EST to check their safety; exact text not published350 chars
Dear Tufts students in Japan, I am writing to check in with you following today's earthquake. Please reply to let me know you are safe and to tell me where you are. If you need to reach me urgently, please call the office. We are monitoring the situation closely and will be in touch with further guidance. — Sheila Bayne, Director of Programs Abroad

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The Tufts Daily confirmed the 9 AM EST timestamp for Bayne's email and the 10:20 AM EST confirmation time -- these are the two load-bearing verified facts
All five Kanazawa students were on the west coast of Honshu, roughly 500 km from the epicenter off Miyagi Prefecture and on the opposite side of Japan from the tsunami's path
The two students at Kansai Gaidai in Osaka were approximately 700 km from the epicenter
ALL CLEAREmail+1h 20m
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from Tufts Daily reporting; the 10:20 AM confirmation time, student count of seven, and program locations are confirmed facts374 chars
I am happy to report that all seven Tufts students in Japan have been confirmed safe. Five students are studying at Kanazawa University on the west coast, away from the most affected areas, and two are at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka. We are continuing to monitor the situation and will provide additional guidance as needed. — Sheila Bayne, Director of Programs Abroad

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Bayne received confirmation through a combination of direct emails from students and reports from students' friends -- the 80-minute window from her 9 AM email to the 10:20 AM all-clear is unusually fast for a cohort scattered across two sites
Japan's west coast location of Kanazawa protected those five students from the tsunami, which struck the Pacific-facing Tohoku coast; Osaka students were similarly unaffected
FOLLOW-UPEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from Tufts Daily reporting on the March 18 email authorizing voluntary withdrawal with tuition refund for the five Kanazawa students564 chars
Dear Tufts-in-Japan Students, In light of the ongoing nuclear situation at Fukushima and continuing aftershocks, Tufts has decided to permit any student in the Tufts-in-Japan program at Kanazawa to withdraw from the program and receive a full tuition refund. This decision is entirely voluntary -- students who wish to remain in Japan to complete their studies may do so. Please contact my office by [date] to indicate your preference. We will continue to monitor the situation and support you wherever you choose to be. — Sheila Bayne, Director of Programs Abroad

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The March 18 voluntary-withdrawal option was offered only to the five Kanazawa students, not to the two at Kansai Gaidai -- reflecting the geographic proximity of Kanazawa to the Fukushima exclusion zone compared to Osaka
The Tufts Daily's separate article about the withdrawal authorization confirms the March 18 date and the full-tuition-refund policy
Context

Background

The 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck at 2:46 PM JST on March 11, 2011 -- midnight EST the same date -- with a magnitude of 9.0, generating a tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people along Japan's northeast coast and triggering the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Tufts University had seven students in Japan through two programs: five at Kanazawa University via the Tufts-in-Japan program on the Sea of Japan coast, and two at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka. Both locations were on Honshu's western and central areas, geographically shielded from the Pacific-facing tsunami path. Director of Programs Abroad Sheila Bayne emailed all students at 9 AM EST and confirmed all seven safe by 10:20 AM -- an 80-minute accountability loop that became a reference point for how a US study-abroad office should handle a major overseas disaster. One Kanazawa student noted to the Tufts Daily that Japan's mandatory earthquake-preparedness culture -- building codes, emergency drills, public shelter infrastructure -- meant that the university buildings and student housing weathered the quake without casualties. The March 18 voluntary-withdrawal option, with full tuition refund, was Tufts's response to the evolving Fukushima situation and State Department travel advisory.
Analysis

Key Findings

The 80-minute accountability window -- 9:00 AM email to 10:20 AM confirmation of all 7 students -- is among the fastest documented overseas-cohort safety checks in the archive, enabled by the students' geographic distance from the disaster zone
The voluntary-withdrawal policy with full tuition refund, announced March 18, reflects a US institution's liability and duty-of-care calculus when a State Department travel advisory covers a country where students are enrolled
The two-program structure (Kanazawa and Kansai Gaidai) meant Bayne had to confirm safety through two separate institutional contact chains, not one
Outcome
All 7 Tufts students in Japan confirmed safe by 10:20 AM EST on March 11. Five students in Kanazawa offered voluntary withdrawal with tuition refund on March 18. Both programs remained geographically distant from the earthquake's epicenter and the Fukushima disaster zone.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Tufts students in Japan safe after earthquake, tsunami
    tuftsdaily.com
  2. Student Paper
    Tufts permits withdrawal from Japan program
    tuftsdaily.com
  3. Source
    2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
  4. Official
    Tufts in Japan (Global Tufts)
    global.tufts.edu
Tags
study-abroadjapanearthquaketsunamiinternationalkanazawafukushimatohokuprivate-r1advisorynatural-disaster
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion