Tetsuro Matsushima, 21, a Japanese exchange student studying Africa and economics at the University of Michigan, was checking Facebook and Twitter updates from friends the morning of March 11 when he learned about the earthquake that struck his homeland that day.

At first, he said, he could not believe the news.

“You know when something really bad happens, you don’t know if it’s real or not,” said Matsushima, who came to U-M from the University of Tokyo in August. “It was really hard for me to grasp.”

An 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan Friday, triggering a devastating tsunami that killed thousands and damaging nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant on the northeast coast. The complex has been leaking radiation.

Matsushima is from Kawasaki, which, he says, is about a 30-minute train ride from Tokyo. Though his family and friends do not live in northern Japan, the part of the country that was hit hardest, he said his loved ones are facing food shortages and scheduled power outages, among other difficulties.

Earthquakes are nothing new for Japan, Matsushima said, but this most recent series of earthquakes and the subsequent tsunami and nuclear crisis are worse than anything he has experienced before.

“We’ve had many earthquakes, every five years, but I’ve never seen any that have been this bad,” he said.

Rick Fitzgerald, U-M spokesman, said the university has suspended study abroad programs in Japan.

As of Thursday, one U-M faculty member, as many as 10 undergraduate students and six graduate students remained in Japan. The undergraduate students are in the process of returning to the United States, he said, and graduate students have been advised to either move to the southern part of the country or return to the U.S.

No U-M affiliates in Japan have been injured, Fitzgerald said. And the university will work with those students whose study abroad session has been suspended, he said, to ensure they receive credit for the time spent in Japan and that they can re-enroll in classes if they choose.

“We’re happy to say virtually all the University of Michigan affiliates were either in Tokyo or south,” he said.

Kenta Hayashi, 21, is a senior majoring in economics and art history. He is vice president of the Japan Student Association at the University of Michigan.

Hayashi, who was born in Tokyo and later moved to Taiwan, said his family and friends in Japan are safe, but they, too, are experiencing food and fuel shortages.

“I’ve been through earthquakes before, so I thought this was no big deal,” he said. “It was not until I saw some photos and heard about the nuclear crisis that I realized the severity of the problem.”

Matsushima and Hayashi both say they have been keeping in touch with family and friends via e-mail, Skype and social networking sites.

“There’s civil order and everyone’s pretty disciplined,” Hayashi said, attributing the lack of looting and panic to the Japanese culture’s general emphasis on discipline.

Matsushima added, “We’re basically educated to respect other people and think about ourselves second, others first.”

Both men said Japanese students are taught how to deal with disaster situations from an early age, and fire and earthquake drills are common in schools. Many of Japan’s schools and universities have been suspended due to the recent disaster, they said.

Hayashi said members of Japan’s older generations are helping those of younger generations to deal with the stress of the situation.

“They’re helping the younger generation live through the difficulties,” he said. “Older people cope better. There’s a sense of hopelessness among younger generations.”

Hasumi Murase, 19, ia sophomore at U-M, was born in Nagoya, lived in Tokyo until age 5 and then moved to Chicago. She said she heard about the disaster the moment it struck.

“I was actually on this Japanese news site the moment it happened,” she said.

Though her family members in Japan are safe, Murase said, they are concerned about a lack of food and exposure to radiation. Her aunt lives in Tokyo, she said.

“In the stores nearby there’s absolutely no food,” she said.

She said her aunt, like many other people, is in the process of migrating west. Some people also are migrating south.

“The aftershocks will continue for about a month, at least,” said Murase, who normally visits Japan every summer, but will likely not do so this year.

Matsushima said the disaster affected his performance on midterm exams. But, he said the only thing that matters is that family and friends are OK.

The students are organizing to raise funds for relief efforts and Matsushima said he would like to become involved in volunteer relief efforts when he returns to Japan.

They said it is difficult to lead a normal life in the U.S. when their loved ones are experiencing such difficult times in Japan. Watching St. Patrick's Day celebrations Thursday was particularly hard, they said.

“We feel people in Japan are going through a really difficult situation. We have to lead our ordinary lives — it’s St. Patrick’s Day, we have to be happy,” Matsushima said. “We kind of feel guilt about us being happy, leading ordinary lives, doing homework.”

Hayashi added, “That probably hit me the hardest I guess — now wear green ... to celebrate St. Patty’s. But it was kind of weird walking down State Street seeing people drinking and partying when, you know, it’s all over the news that people are dying, the nuclear crisis going on right now. Not to mention, there’s also wars going on in the Middle East and Africa, among other things. And it just made me realize, you know, in the past when there were earthquakes in Indonesia and even back in Taiwan, I donated money, but I felt like I didn’t do enough. I think yesterday kind of, like, it was almost like an epiphany.”

Heather Lockwood is a reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at heatherlockwood@annarbor.com or follow her on Twitter.