PUYALLUP, Wash. — Rie and Trey Manning never anticipated starting the New Year worrying about their loved ones in Japan. It began with a phone call.
"My best friend from Tokyo called me," Rie said. "She said please contact my parents. She was frantic. Call them. A tsunami is coming."
Rie said she was still trying to process the news as she told her husband Trey. Since that frantic, late night call, information has been hard to come by. Tokyo is on the other side of the country from where the earthquake struck, the Noto Penisula.
"What is difficult is that I can't contact my parents," she said "I'm trying to message all my friends and get information. Little by little, they've responded."
Rie is from Nakajima Japan, a rural town located on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture. She and her husband were horrified to learn that was the epicenter. It's left her parents without a home which also doubled as a grocery store for their community. Trey knew he had to get a jumpstart on helping his in-laws, 73-year-old Takemi and 83-year-old Takashi, pictured below.
"We’re trying to help my family rebuild their whole life essentially," Trey said. As of this article being published, the GoFundMe has raised more than $5,000 with a goal of $50,000.
RELATED: GoFundMe for Manning Family loved ones
"I never imagined we would need to do something like this," Trey said of the GoFundMe. "I'm just so thankful to our friends and people we don't know who's supported us."
The couple has gotten word Rie's parents made it to an evacuation center, a preschool the quake didn't damage. They've also been able to leave the center and bring back food to those in the shelter, but Trey said supplies are still desperately needed.
"There’s a lot more people effected than just my in-laws, her parents, our family," Trey said. He and Rie are hopeful in the days, weeks, months, and years to come, the world continues to support those impacted by the earthquake.
"Please don’t forget there is people trying to survive," Rie said.
Japan's military is helping with relief efforts and many other countries, including the US, have offered to send support.