Upon arrival we checked into the hotel and went on a tour of the city and the damage. Our guide was the executive director of the local NPO for rebuilding. These are my noted from the tour. Pictures will be uploaded back in the states due to wifi issues.
The current city has a 34,000 member population. Before the tsunami it was 40,000. The city has many evacuation sites, ours we toured was able to hold 1,000 people on the top area, the shrine and the stairs. Some of the Junior High School students walked up the stairs carrying small kids and the elderly on their backs. At first they evacuated the school kids to the first level by the shrine, but as the water level kept rising, they evacuated to a higher level. The photo will show a blue dot representing the water height. (On Day 11: we visited a school and there many tsunami facts listed from the presentation notes.) The guide said after the tsunami the people are realizing there disaster planning needs more work. The sirens did go on as planned, but people ignored them (similar to situations in the USA where we assume "this time" we won't flood).
Self defense army came 03/12. But couldn't really start clean up because of aftershocks and further tsunami warnings. Local government felt the next day was too soon for local guard to come and help, however they did anyway. People didn't spend the night on the evacuation site, instead they slept in the hospital.
Nippon steel the 2nd largest world wide steel manufacturer is housed here, allowed citizens to sleep and use the building. No other help was provided by them. In the states, companies get a tax benefit for providing community service and funding to charities.
After local government support ceased, The local army, us army, and private companies and volunteers helped bring in the temporary mobile homes housing which is still being used today, 2 years and 4 months after the tsunami.
1960s tsunami was knee high, never this much water. At 3:15 pm, nearly 7 hours after the earthquake the tsunami hit.
The next most important step in rebuilding is mental health. Counselors come from outside areas for support but there's still a shortage. They get free shampoos and products but mental care is lacking. Japan doesn't recognized mental health issues or problems, therefore the people drive the need and services for this. But there isn't a formal mental health program and the need is greater then the few available counselors.
The Jr HS building is now used as temporary housing. Many people feel they should keep temp housing so if it happens again they can simply evacuate, and leave a temporary and not permanent home. As we stood on what was once the Kamaishi train station a group of engineers came up for their meeting.
They passed out blue prints of their plans for a Peace Park and Seawaves Rugby stadium since they Will NOT rebuild housing so close to the disaster area. On the "evacuation center" building, which ironically named Was Not an evacuation site had red sprayed circles with an X in the center indicating the building was cleared of bodies and checked during army clean up. I cried during the tour, we all did at one point or another.
There were many stories of heroism, but in Japan its considered community or group effort. The kindergarteners first evacuated to the roof of their building. But the Junior HS kids walking by said no, you need to evacuate to your designated area. We took pictures of a blue truck driving past the "white house" evacuation levels. So the little kids went up to their site. Quickly after the water started both of the schools we submerged in the huge wave. In another sad story (not a happy ending) his friend was very pregnant and due soon. She was volunteering at the kindergarten, she was not fast enough and didn't make it to the evacuation site. Her husband looked for her for many days, luckily they were able to find her body. Many weren't so lucky since the bodies were washed away to the sea.
I asked about how people communicated to family where they were located. Post WWII Hiroshima Bombing the people wrote on the walls of buildings where they were headed, their names and injuries. Post 9/11 google set up web pages for people to connect with loved ones who were missing and people who told family they were alive. In Kamaishi people put up flyers and wrote where they could.
Then, we notice this man, walking up to our group on the station area. He's a local who has pictures if the tsunami and if the local newspaper he wants to share with us. He had 4 photo albums and asked us to look at the in order starting with album No. 1.
When we said good bye to our guide he said he feels he still needs help. His mental health is not well. He has been told by friends that the self defense army (similar to the US national guard) came to clean up, but he doesn't remember it. We told him this is normal, his brain is blocking the event for self preservation. We could only offer comfort telling him his feelings are normal following such a tragedy. He asked we tell people around the world that "we are still here." Please talk with people here and spend your money here. Aid has stopped coming, we still need help, we still need support rebuilding and for tourism.
Today weighed heavy on us. We all went back to the hotel, somber.
We met for dinner with some locals who work for the city and Mikisans friends. They had amazing Sashimi plates, a grilled steak and grilled pork chops. Teriyaki fish and a smoked fish. Green tea and beer. We had two small bottles of sake, seaweed soup and then a guy ordered a bowl of rice, seaweed bits and Salmon Roe on top!!! OMG it was so good. The Roe were huge! Everyone tried some, and I had many bites. So the restaurant owner saw how excited I was about the Roe that he sent out a whole bowl.
Happy Travels!
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