Patrick Toomey ’03, who was working with People’s Watch-Tamil Nadu, a human rights organization, had planned to meet with his girlfriend, Emma B. Wright ’03, at the coastal town of Mahabalipuram on Dec. 28.

“The tsunami quickly did away with those plans,” Toomey wrote in an e-mail from India. “Strange to think that we were two days removed from being on that beach.”

Students from the area who escaped the effects of the tidal wave said the disaster struck a solemn tone over their winter break.

Nadiah Wan ’07 was at her home in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, when the earthquake hit.

“We hardly felt anything, although several people in high-rise buildings reported very slight tremors,” she wrote in an e-mail from Malaysia.

Wan wrote that she had no family or friends who died but that many of them were “lucky to escape” from coastal regions.

“The atmosphere is pretty somber,” she wrote.

Weerawat Runguphan ’06 wrote that he is frustrated to be so far away from his home of Nonthaburi, Thailand when so many citizens are in need.

“What frustrates me is that I am stuck here, obligated to study for finals when everyone in my country is collaborating on the recovery,” he wrote, adding that his family and friends are safe.

Although many students hail from the areas of Asia hit hardest, only one undergraduate was studying in the affected countries during the fall semester, according to Jane Edwards, the director of the Office of International Programs (OIP). The student was in India on a program that ended in mid-December.

Edwards said she did not know of any Harvard students who had been injured or reported missing. She said that while it is uncommon, natural disasters have affected students studying abroad in the past, such as erupting volcanoes in Ecuador.

“As it happens, none of the countries affected, except India, receive large numbers of study abroad students, so the immediate effect will be of a general psychological kind rather than specific,” Edwards said. She added that no students have contacted the OIP about changing their plans to study in the affected areas.

—Staff writer Bari M. Schwartz contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Liz C. Goodwin can be reached at goodwin@fas.harvard.edu.