After news of subway bombings in the British capital hit the world, Zoe Cormier’s initial emotion was fear-until her mom called her up.

Her mother, Martha, lives in London and takes the tube every day. That day, she had walked to work instead.

It was a close call for Cormier, who graduated from U of T this summer in life sciences and is flying to London in a matter of weeks. Besides her mom, her grandmother and many friends live there. “They all seem to be safe. One friend of mine was evacuated from a subway train-he was one station over from where one of the bombs went off,” she said.

Cormier is among many U of T students and staff who spent July 7 scrambling to contact friends and relatives in London. Their reactions to news of the explosions ran from shock, to panic, and finally to joy and relief as phone calls from loved ones began to trickle in.

Not all U of T students with London connections received those calls, however. Natalie Smith is a political science and philosophy major who on Wednesday had still not heard from a relative who lives very close to ground zero of one of the attacks.

“When it was announced that one of the bombs had gone off at King’s Cross Station, utter dread came over me. I called my mum in B.C., even though it was 4 a.m. for her.” Smith had frequently visited her aunt, who lives five minutes away from blast site.

“My mum tried calling my aunt all throughout the day but to no avail-she would not answer her phone. To this day, six days after the bombing, we have not had any success contacting her.”

The terrorist blasts have hit close to home for the large number of University students and staff who either are from London directly or have friends and relatives there. In 2002, the UK was the fourth highest country of origin among U of T international students, with 176 British students here, according to the International Students’ Association.

“What really freaked me out the most were the photos of [double-decker] buses with the tops and backs blown off, knowing how many times I’ve sat on one of those buses,” said Cormier.

The University also sends a students to the University of Sussex to study during the summer, a mere two-hour drive from London.

All of this adds up to a very tense week for U of T, as some worried about the possibility of a similar attack here at home.

“I am very fearful that something like the London or Madrid bombings may occur in Canada. I feel like it’s only a matter of time,” said Smith.

U of T experts on terrorism, politics, and the Middle East have largely dismissed this notion as unlikely, however. “Canada is an unlikely target,” said Stephen Clarkson, a professor of political economy.

“The risk of attack cannot be reduced much further than it has been,” said History professor Derek Penslar. “We are living in an era of constant low-intensity warfare.

“Terrorism is the weapon of the weak. These are people who do not have access to normal channels” of politics or traditional war.

Both Penslar and Wesley Wark, a terrorism expert at U of T’s Munk Centre for International Studies, agree that as horrific as the London bombings were, they did not achieve their goals of influencing politics, particularly the outcome of the G8 summit.

Cold comfort, perhaps, for those who still have not gotten-or will never get-their phone call.