A Kirkcaldy mother had to wait an agonising eight hours before finding out her son had survived the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Agnes Dunn (55) described herself as a “nervous wreck” waiting for news of 26-year-old Matthew, who teaches English in Sendai. The city was near the epicentre of the 8.9-magnitude quake and felt the force of deadly tsunami waves.
Matthew managed to update his Facebook page on Friday morning after fleeing his home as it was being ravaged by flood waters, but power cuts meant it was much later in the day before he next made contact.
Mrs Dunn said, “I’ve been worried sick and was praying the phone would go and it would be Matthew’s voice. I had to hang on until after six o’clock and I was a nervous wreck.”
Matthew, who is married to Shihiro and has a two-year-old daughter called Sakura, took refuge with his family in an underground bunker.
When he left the bunker to call home he managed to get a strong enough signal to quickly speak to his mother.
Mrs Dunn said her son had lived in Japan for two years having moved there to be with his musician wife, who he met while she was performing in Edinburgh.
“I know there was a lot of structural damage where Matthew lives,” she said. “I spoke to his Japanese father-in-law and he said he could see a lot of water.
“I could hear the fear in his voice but he said that Matthew and the family were heading somewhere safe. He is a sensible boy and I knew he would make the right decisions.
“I know that the Japanese are prepared for this kind of crisis, so I was praying that the reason I hadn’t heard from him is down to telecommunications.”
The first Mrs Dunn heard of the disaster was when her husband Jools called her at 6.30am on Friday.
She added, “We have been trying to get what news we can but it is obviously chaos over there. I have been watching TV and can see the devastation that has been caused.
“It was awful trying to envisage where Matthew was and what he was doing. I just waited by the phone. It was amazing to hear him phone to say he was okay.”