After the Earthquake!

At the moment it is very strange living here in Japan!!! This wonderful country has been thrown into chaos. The worst disaster since World War 2.....the largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan, the fourth largest earthquake ever recorded in the world, a monstrous tsunami with devastating consequences and a nuclear catastrophe. Now, unusually hide Spring tides are causing flooding along the coast, a coast which is now lower as a result of the quake.

Naturally, we have been under immense pressure from family, and friends, to return home. 'Get out now!', 'Don't wait until it's too late!', 'Come home now!' Nanny it's time for you to come home from Japan!' were common pleas. We were taking the situation very seriously and assessing it constantly. The whole scenario was unnerving and scary. We wanted to return to our family and the safety of Australia but we also wanted to show support for Japan, by merely staying. Yes, we have a choice we can leave but on the whole the Japanese people don't. Listening to horrifying news reports has, naturally, made people all over the world aware of Japan's plight. In spite of the large numbers of expatriates fleeing the country, 60 from our apartment building alone have left, we remained. By the end of the week, it seemed we may be evacuated but then certain conditions and circumstances meant a change of plan!! Dependant on the Fukoshima Nuclear Plant, we still may move out.....Steve to another work location and me to Melbourne.

It's all very unsettling....... six hundred+ aftershocks (quakes), with the majority of them between 4 and 6, have created uncertainty. When we get one we nervously hold our breath until the shaking subsides. It's quite the norm now to be rocking around on our 16th floor, some days we feel quite dizzy. They appear to be decreasing in frequency but two nights in a row (nearly a week after the mega earthquake) we had quakes of 6.1 and 5.7........ strong in normal times but now just a, 'Thank God it wasn't stronger!'

It's almost impossible to get fuel, at our local supermarkets bread is now being rationed , milk soon disappears off the shelf and many other shelves are bare. Rationing of bread is a good idea though, as it means more people get the chance to buy it. Add to this the fact that many restaurants are closed and those that are operating close at 9pm due to power saving. Rolling blackouts or controlled power outages mean trains and traffic lights often just stop. People suddenly find themselves sitting on a train going nowhere or at an intersection, where safety is up to them until a policeman takes over. The impact on industry, infrastructure and the economy has been huge and will take many years to overcome. We try to pretend things are normal but truthfully they are not.

The disaster puts everything into perspective and the suffering of so many people is horrific. With the death toll sure to exceed 20,000, the suffering and grief of the survivors is incomprehensible. The dignified and stoic response of the survivors is inspiring to the rest of the country.

Survivors, rescuers and doctors are plagued by ongoing difficulties. Hospitals, with depleted and damaged medical supplies and no power and therefore no equipment, struggle to cope. Large numbers of survivors were dragged out of the debris and rubble with hypothermia. Having nearly drowned, and some with core body temperatures of 24.8, their lungs were filled with a combination of water and fuel. When this disaster occurred we mustn't forget winter had just passed. Sea water and air temperatures were low, so low that it snowed soon after. It is rare to see a headline like this-

Rescuers find 80-year-old woman, 16-year-old grandson in rubble 9 days after quake      Sunday 20th March, 07:30 PM JST

Television screens displaying disquieting information, such as below, are a worry!

How familiar we have become with the terms.....cooling rods, nuclear reactors, number 3 reactor, no 5 reactor, radioactive materials, spent fuel, containment vessel, explosion, radiation, evacuation, safe zones etc, etc. 

With the constant threat of nuclear explosions and radiation contamination finally after 10 days we read this headline, but is it enough?? Will it ever be alright?

Electricity partially installed at one nuclear reactor           Sunday 20th   March, 07:50 PM JST

Medical staff say that survivors are shell shocked and bottling their feelings up. They can't imagine a future and are having difficulty articulating their feelings. Many are apologetic for surviving and not having tried harder to save others as they were swept along!!! They have expressed guilt at having made one decision rather than another at the time of the tsunami!!  It is heart wrenching for those who have survived and still wonder about their loved ones. The children who have survived this nightmare are also particularly vulnerable.

Even in our immediate area, things are very different. Walking around the other night we were instantly aware of the disaster's impact. Normally crowded with people, brightly lit and noisy the streets are deserted, tall buildings are using minimal power and many shops are closed.      
Now.........Cosmo World is dark and closed, the Red Brick Buildings on the waterfront dark and silent!

Before......Cosmo World 
 
Now......a view from our apartment, not the normally bright outlook!

 Before..... the normal view.

As we ride our bikes around we see evidence of minor damage....

March 19th-21st was a long weekend to celebrate the Spring Equinox. How difficult it must be for the Japanese people to celebrate at such a time. When related to the seasons, it is rebirth, renewal and regrowth that bests describe the season of Spring. For me, Spring is signalled by flowers, blossoms and green leaves as plants spring to life, baby animals and a sense of relief that warmer weather is on the way.

In Japan, 'Cherry Blossom Time' is normally an exciting and celebrated time, a time when tourists flock to the country. This year the tourists won't be flocking here and the celebrations will be absent. Think of Cherry Blossom time and visions of Mt Fuji with blossom laden trees in the foreground come to mind. Upon investigating the definitions of the word 'spring' I felt that, at this time, many of them could be applied to Japan.......

to spring back.........spring away from an impact..........the season of growth where emerging buds appear on trees .............. a natural flow of ground water........ a device that returns to its shape or position when pushed or pulled or pressed ....... 

a point at which water issues forth!!   

How apt I thought!

On the Saturday of the long weekend, we decided to just get away from the apartment, TV and city with some friends. Wanting to conserve our half  tank of fuel in the car in case of an emergency, we caught a train to Yokohama and then simply headed south. We had no real plan and just transferred to another train when the one we were on terminated. After 3 hours we found ourselves in the town of Fuji. This was not as expected because, by this stage, we had formulated a loose plan and decided to head down the east coast of the Izu Peninsula. Fuji is actually to the west of the peninsula. We did get a great view of Fuji-san from a different aspect, so I was happy.

We caught another train and finally reached Atami, which was a bit short of our chosen destination of Ito.

The sun was shining, we had found some blossom trees and the streets were lovely.

This seaside town is no different to the towns that were destroyed in the tsunami and looking out to sea it was hard to imagine what chaos it had caused.

In a different way, we too felt guilty to be enjoying ourselves. Maybe though, it is what Japan needs.....the country will not recover if the tourist trade dies and businesses go broke. Slowly, ever so slowly, Japan and its people will recover, but they will never forget.

Fishermen will return to the sea

.......to the sea that......
on
.........Friday 11th March 2011..........

created such destruction and mayhem!!!