Prashant Kumar Yadav. Telegraph picture

Patna, March 25: Aftershocks of the devastation in Japan are being felt thousands of kilometres away, in distant Bihar.

What should have been a time for celebrations turned into a harrowing emotional trauma for Prashant Kumar Yadav, a young techie working with a global IT firm in Tokyo.

“It was quite a difficult emotional situation for me on March 11 when I got to know about the disaster in Japan. I saw the news on television around 3 in the afternoon and my sister was to get married the same evening. It was an emotional dilemma for me as I got really worried about the well-being of my friends and colleagues back in Japan. Somewhere I wished I was with them at this time of crisis,” said Prashant, currently staying with his parents at Gardanibagh in Patna.

A graduate from Sikkim Manipal University, Prashant, 38, shifted to Tokyo in May 2008 when he got a job with the IT firm whose name he chose not to reveal because of the company’s media guidelines.

He came to Patna on March 6 to attend his younger sister’s wedding on March 11, the day the massive earthquake set off the ferocious tsunami and devastated the northern coast of Japan. “Initially, I only got to know about the earthquake but later in the evening I received a few phone calls from friends in Japan who informed me about the tsunami that followed and then the nuclear outbreak. The only relief was my friends were all safe, but the overall scenario in Japan was quite disheartening,” said Prashant.

Prashant was eager to be with friends and colleagues at this time of crisis but the prevailing fear of nuclear radiation came in his way. “Originally I had booked my return ticket for March 19 but I had to cancel it as I received orders from my office to stay put here and continue to work from home till the situation improves. Many of my Indian friends were also sent back as a precautionary measure by various companies in Japan,” he said.

Prashant was initially asked by his office to prepare for arrival in Tokyo after April 10 but he received another instruction on March 22 that the situation was getting back to normal. He has now been asked to report at the Tokyo office at the earliest.

If Prashant’s family members are relieved their son is with them, the parents of another techie, working in Hamamatsu, are worried over the radiation fears.

“Hamamatsu is far from the disaster site, approximately 600km away, so I did not feel any tremor. Also, the city was way beyond the reach of tsunami waves. But me and my Indian friends and colleagues in Hamamatsu were saddened by the scale of the devastation,” said the techie, who requested that his name be not disclosed as his employers have issued a media gag on the executives.

His parents in Patna were initially paranoid after the news of nuclear radiation exposure broke. “They got worried knowing about the nuclear radiation but I had to convince them that I am located far away from the radiation exposed places and there is no need to worry. Still my parents continue to worry,” he said.

Like Prashant, this techie also is confident about Japan’s resilience in combating any disaster.