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Western Washington University alumnus Scott LaMont, who is currently living in Japan 45 minutes outside of Tokyo, has offered a first-hand account of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that took place there early Friday.

LaMont has been living in Japan for five years.

"It happened when I was teaching English at the private school near where I live in Sakado, a residential suburb about 45 minutes away from Tokyo by train," LaMont writes. "I was teaching a private lesson when the room started swaying softly. At first, we thought it was just another normal-sized quake, pretty much a common experience here in Japan, but then it started progressively getting more and more violent and got to the point where my other co-workers started insisting that we quickly make our way outside. It continued getting worse, and I was stuck between a series of electrical wires swinging over my head and a few large windows behind me. Very scary scene, but it finally died down. I think the whole situation lasted about three or four minutes, with the actual earthquake probably lasting at least a minute, if not more."

LaMont continues: "As for what is happening around here, luckily for us we are not near the coast and were not affected by the tsunami, though I feel for those who were. However, I have seen that those affected right away were the millions of people who commute to Tokyo by train. I would say perhaps a majority of working people in Tokyo go to work by train, and when something like this happens, all the trains shut down and people are left stranded. So, in this area especially, a lot of people did not make it home yesterday and last night. I saw on the news that multiple areas in Tokyo had to be set up to house those who couldn't make it home, and for others trying to get a bus or taxi home the line stretched on, sometimes in the hundreds of people."

"I am safe, and this country will pull through; I just fear for the final tally of causalities, especially in areas Northeast that were directly affected by the tsunami. It's terrible news. I love this country as much as I love America, and after being here for five years I now consider it my second home, so you can imagine that this is a sad time for me and for Japan."