Roland Buerk (born 1973) is a former journalist who worked for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. He was the Tokyo Correspondent for

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

and covered of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

. He left the BBC in mid-2012, to work for

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. He is the son of former BBC newsreader presenter

Michael Buerk Michael Duncan Buerk (; born 18 February 1946) is a British journalist and newsreader. He presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's '' Moral Maze'' since 1990. He was also the presenter of BBC One's docudrama ...

Education

Buerk was educated at the Royal Grammar School, a day

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

for boys in his former hometown of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, followed by the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, from which he graduated with a degree in Political Science in 1995. He was the editor of the University's student newspaper, ''

Redbrick A redbrick university (or red-brick university) normally refers to one of the nine civic universities originally founded as university colleges in the major industrial cities of England in the second half of the 19th century. However, wi ...

'', for the 1994–95 academic year.

Life and career

After graduation, Buerk joined

Independent Television News Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washington, D.C. I ...

(ITN) in London as a graduate news trainee, and was assigned to Channel 5 News as a producer after he completed an eighteen-month course. After leaving ITN, Buerk became a freelance correspondent in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and filed news reports for the BBC. He survived the 2004 Asian tsunami and reported on the effects of the tsunami on BBC News. In January 2009, Buerk was appointed as the Tokyo Correspondent and reported on the

and reported from inside the

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant The is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a site in the towns of Ōkuma, Fukushima, Ōkuma and Futaba, Fukushima, Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The plant Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, suffered major damage from the 201 ...

. In 2012, Buerk left the BBC to work for the Japanese motor manufacturer

, in the

Personal life

Buerk is a twin to his brother Simon. In 2005, he married Dr Anna Moore, whom he met at university. Moore is credited with saving Buerk's life during the 2004 Asian tsunami, by waking him in their hotel bedroom in the coastal town of

Unawatuna Unawatuna is a coastal town in Galle district of Sri Lanka. Unawatuna is a major tourist attraction in Sri Lanka and known for its beach and corals. It is a suburb of Galle, about southeast of the city center and approximately south of Colombo. ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, moments before a large wave burst into the ground floor room they had just left. They were swept away on a tsunami wave with household debris and survived by clinging to a tree and later to a pillar on higher ground, until water levels subsided.

Publications

* ''Breaking Ships'' (2006)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buerk, Roland 1973 births Living people People educated at Royal Grammar School, Guildford Alumni of the University of Birmingham Place of birth missing (living people) English reporters and correspondents BBC newsreaders and journalists 5 News presenters and reporters