So who is gonna tell the wtfock intern that they need to start preparing pictures for Sobbe’s anniversary? And more importantly Robbe’s video since we now know that Robbe is a film editor extraordinaire. They’ve got like 2 months to prepare.
On March 11th, 2011 Japan has gone through a cataclysmic earthquake, followed by a massive tsunami that has destroyed much of Northeast Japan. Hundreds of lives were lost, homes were washed away, and the effects of the disaster can still be felt today.
If you go to yahoo.co.jp and search “3.11″ today, Yahoo will donate 10 yen (approximately 9-10 cents) for tsunami relief.
Please take the time to do this. It will take about 2 seconds at no cost to you, and the money will be used for a good cause.
It’s been about 8 years since the disaster, and Japan has still not fully recovered. Every little bit helps, and in the chaotic cycle of news it is really easy to forget about major events like this. Thousands of lives were affected, and I would really appreciate it if you took the time to participate, and take a moment for all of the lives affected.
I have a personal connection with this disaster, and it is really important to me that this gets as much awareness as possible.
Please reblog to boost awareness!
If you would like to know my personal story and connection to tsunami and earthquake, it is all underneath the cut. [includes pictures]
For those of you who don’t know, I am Japanese-American. Although I was born in and grew up in the United States, both of my parents are Japanese and I used to go to Japan every summer to visit family.
My mother’s hometown of Kesennuma was the very first place hit by the tsunami. In the image below, the star was the epicenter of the tsunami, and that little place circled in blue is Kesennuma.
Almost the entirety of my mother’s side of the family lives in Kesennuma including my grandmother and numerous relatives. Kesennuma is basically my second home, I grew up going there every year, I attended school there, I grew up playing on the beach, and running through the streets as a kid.
On the morning of the 11th, I remember waking up because the phone started ringing at around 4 AM, and didn’t stop. My mom usually wakes me up at 7 AM to get ready for school, but she didn’t that day. When I woke up on my own and went downstairs, my mom was staring at the TV. The only thing on the TV was a building being swept away by massive waves.
My grandmother lives right next door to Kesennuma’s City Hall. When I was a kid, I used to open the window in my grandma’s house and wave to the office workers across a small alley — that’s how close it was. The only thing that was on the news at the time, during the disaster was “The City Hall of Kesennuma has been engulfed in waves!”. Over and over, for about two weeks, that was the only source of information that me and my parents had. For two of the longest weeks of my life, we had absolutely no idea if my grandma, my cousins, my family, and my friends were dead or alive.
During this time, the electricity was down, cell phone signals were wiped out, and despite the entire world paying attention and sending prayers and well-wishes to Japan, they received none of it because they had no way to communicate with the outside world. Me and my mother spent these two weeks combing through the internet and playing the news 24/7 for any update. But we didn’t get any, the only thing that was on the Japanese news that we watched was the news of Kesennuma’s City Hall being swept away.
About 2 weeks later was when we finally managed to make contact with my mother’s cousin. Aid was finally beginning to arrive with limited access to basic necessities including portable chargers so people could contact their loved ones.
It was only later that I heard the full story of what happened.
City Hall was actually safe, and so was my grandmother’s house. About 6 feet of water had flooded the area, but it was actually the point where the waves begin to recede, and City Hall became a Refugee Camp for people in the area. My grandmother went there to evacuate, and during those 2 weeks everyone was stuck there, huddling over limited quantities of food, as they watched people die and their homes get destroyed.
When aid finally arrived with food and blankets, one of my grandmother’s friends told me that everyone was too despondent and in shock to move. So my grandmother is one of those people that cannot sit still, she always has to be moving, and she always has to be helping people in need, and she decided that she wasn’t going to sit around in shock. This 84 year old woman went around, cooking meals for hundreds of people and making sure that they were as comfortable as they could be without anyone helping her. We later found out that she had broken her foot in the tsunami and didn’t even realize that was why her foot was hurting her so much because she was so caught up in aiding others.
I went to Japan in June of 2011, 3 months after the tsunami, and here are some of the photographs that I took of the aftermath.
The last image in particular, that was where my relative’s house used to stand. They lived right by the coast, and it always smelled of sea salt there.
Right near their house, there was a massive vat of oil, as giant as buildings. That was knocked over in the tsunami, spreading oil all over the water. Somehow, that got ignited and my mother’s cousin described it as an ocean of fire.
They retreated to a nearby hospital which was the highest point of the area, but they got stuck there for days as the tsunami ravaged the area around them with fire dancing over it. They had to be rescued by helicopters several days later.
As I mentioned, my mother and I went to Japan as soon as we could, three months later. The town that I remember walking through was completely unrecognizable. The streets were gone and replaced by a gravel path, hastily laid out so that people could drive through. All of the buildings were gone, and even though there was quite a distance to the ocean, I could see it clearly because all of the buildings that once stood there were completely wiped out.
Despite all of this hardship, the first thing people would say to me and my mother when they saw us was “You must’ve been so shocked. Are you okay? I know everything is different now.”
They had gone through hell. They had lost their homes, and were living in temporary housing that made a college dorm room look luxurious in comparison. They had lost their friends, family, money, belongings, and the first thing they did was worry about how me and my mother took the news. Not a single person complained about their situation even though they were 100% justified in doing so. They were suffering, but they were too kind and caring to let it show.
I also had the opportunity to visit some of the temporary housing that was literally put together like a giant doll house in any open space, like a playground. When I got there, I had the privilege of listening to their story. And when people told me their story, they were always smiling and reassuring me that they were hopeful, and that I didn’t have to feel sorry for them, even though they were the ones that had gone through a terrible natural disaster that took everything from them. They literally had nothing, and were living off of donations but when it was time for me to leave, they would offer me food, trinkets, anything they could spare for me to take.
These people are so kind, so generous, so giving in a situation where it would be completely understandable if they weren’t.
This is just my secondhand story, and my experience. There are thousands of other stories out there, thousands of experiences and tragedies, and a lot of hope that managed to remain even throughout all of this tragedy.
Obviously, 8 years later things have improved. But remnants of this disaster can still be felt, and things still aren’t back to normal in not only Kesennuma, but all over Northeastern Japan as well.
For those of you who got to the end, thank you so much for reading. I know this isn’t my most coherent piece of writing because it’s a very painful and emotional memory for me — I can’t even imagine what people who actually went through and experienced this feel like.
My grandmother is okay, and my relatives have recently built a new home after living in a too small temporary house for so long. My baby cousin was born a day later on March 12, 2011 and he’s also doing fine. Most of my family members have survived, even though they may have lost their homes, photographs, memories, etc. And they’re recovering. I don’t know if they’re 100% better yet, but they’re getting there. I’ve lost some friends to this disaster, and I just hope that they’re in a better place now.
Thank you for your time, and thank you for your donation. We still need your help, and it is greatly appreciated.
