Fifth-grader Emiliano Renteria was sitting quietly in class on March 11 when his elementary school in Miyagi Prefecture began to shake violently.
"The earthquake was so strong that chairs were flying all around the room," he said. "I thought I was going to die. I hid under the table. The teacher told us to get under our tables."
Renteria said he returned home that day to find things in a state of disarray. But he considers himself lucky — a friend's house was washed away by the tsunami that followed the quake.