Shovel, boots, gloves, mask, helmet...

What do CRASH volunteers do in the disaster areas of Tohoku? Whatever is needed, would be the short answer. David, in the red jacket, said that two elderly women cried when they received the curry and rice he served them at a feeding center. It was the first hot meal other than instant ramen that they'd had in two and a half weeks.

 On Friday Don Love and I drove a team of volunteers up to the northernmost base camp of CRASH. It's seven hours' drive north of Tokyo in Iwate Prefecture, near Kamaishi and Otsuchi. Otsuchi is famous for this scene, one you've likely viewed on TV.

The team joins the volunteers organized by the city and heads off with a lunch and tools for an hour long drive to the affected area. They assist people by shoveling the mud, dead fish, seaweed and debris out of their houses. This is of course for the people who still have houses left to clean.

After a hard day's work, they return to the base camp, which was a local house hastily rented to provide a place for volunteers cycling through the area, generally on a two week basis.

While at the camp, we experienced a couple of Tohoku style aftershocks. I've mentioned our apartment sways from side to side like a ship on the sea in an earthquake. In this house, the shoji sliding paper doors on the left of the picture and the fusuma sliding room dividers rattle loudly for about three seconds before the violent shaking begins. The frequent aftershocks and the pungent aroma of the disaster area are two things the volunteers have to get used to as they seek to serve the people of the area. In addition CRASH is providing dosimeters to keep track of radiation exposure, just to be safe.

Ready to Roll

You'll see an earlier blog here asking "When Do We Go?" The immediate reaction is to want to go up to Tohoku and serve people food, or clear rubble, or do something, anything!

We've been helping CRASH get operational, as volunteer teams work through the process of getting here. The cleanup/rebuilding phase will be the busiest time for teams, but there are four base camps set up already (or is that five, as of today?) and teams are in place, helping in many ways.

Help is needed in driving teams up to base camps, so the answer to "when do we go?" is "tomorrow morning" Don Love and I will drive a team and all their supplies (you can't count on finding anything up there) up to Tono, Iwate Prefecture.

Carol mentioned this fact to the people we know in the community, and this is the result. Now we'll have to go, just to get our apartment space back! Ironically, the assessment teams coming back from the area say that the refugees in shelters have ample food and supplies, but people who are living in homes that were not damaged are suffering, because there are no stores open. So, I imagine these supplies will be directed to them.

More on the trip up north in a couple of days...

We Are Sinking!

Our apartment has weathered the various tremors that have kept things lively here for the past three weeks. Our island has not fared so well.

Perhaps you find these shots a little underwhelming after seeing so much of the disaster from Tohoku, but they do show the challenges of living on reclaimed land. We've got this much motion from quakes that are far removed from us. On the other side of Tokyo Bay, at Urayasu, there was a quake very close, and the result was liquefaction, where water suddenly gushes to the surface as land settles.



So, if you had your heart set on visiting Tokyo Disneyland, you're going to have to wait for a while. Tokyo Disneyland is closed indefinitely, while they sort out what to do about the watery pudding the park is built on.

As long as we don't get an earthquake right under us, we should be good for the foreseeable future. Of course, with aftershocks everyday, the future isn't very foreseeable.

If you have 40 seconds to waste, I can't help but mention a great video on the theme of "We are Sinking!"

Summer Vacations at the Beach

We enjoy summer vacations in Shichigahama (7 beaches) just northeast of Sendai. We head through Tagajo on the way to the peninsula, and often load up on groceries on the way at one of the many stores there.

Then we take a road that runs parallel to the beach, and has houses, small hotels and a surf shop, because surfing at Shichigahama is very popular. In fact, the sign for the little surf shop is visble in the picture.


The first beach we pass is the one busy with surfers, and people barbecuing and setting off fireworks keep the beach busy during the evenings.


When the girls were younger, we went to the smaller beach protected by a seawall. The cabins where we stay are on the high cliffs, on two hills with this little beach separating them.

Of course, we often meet some of the people who live in the houses just past the beach, and who work in the area in farming or fishing, and who have lived in this area for generations.

Driving around the peninsula, one goes by little fishing villages like Hanabuchihama. I've purchased gas at this station several times.

Even though it's a great place to get away from the heat and humidity of Tokyo in the summertime, this year we don't anticipate making the trip up there. At least, not in the summer. Within the next few weeks, one or more of us may be up there, but not for a vacation. The cabins on the hills may be in use shortly, but not by us. One of our friends from that vacation place just returned from taking up emergency supplies while accompanying a Dutch TV news crew, and that's how we got the pictures.

Making It Happen

Carol volunteered all day at the CRASH centre, handling e mail inquiries. The first team heads up to Sendai tomorrow morning, establishing a base. crashjapan.com has more details.

Heather was there as well, helping in the kitchen and with financial records. When they took a head count for lunch, there were 60 working there.

You'll also find Heather in this promotional video:

Not Enough Panic? Let's Add Some More!

The media have not been entirely responsible in reporting on the Fukushima nuclear crisis, and its effects on the rest of Japan. While radiation levels in Tokyo have multiplied several times over, in real terms they're 1/40 the radiation received during an x-ray examination. For that matter, humans receive radiation on long overseas flights because of the altitude and the radiation coming from the sun.

The radiation in Tokyo has increased to just short of one microsievert, while in Fukushima it's spiked as high as 400 millisieverts. 250 millisieverts, or more than 250,000 times the Tokyo level, is the threshold for health danger.

For a little reality from industry and academic specialists, check this link:
http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#!/notes/paul-atkinson/japan-nuclear-update-british-embassy/10150111611771235

As you see from the article, the exclusion zone is indeed a danger zone, but only 50 or so brave TEPCO employees (wearing radiation suits, I would hope!) are working within that zone. But, pity the farmer who lives outside the exclusion zone, and who tries to sell his produce with "Fukushima" as the name of the place where it is grown. Would anyone buy it?

Is That All?

Panic is a self fulfilling prophecy, isn't it? "There may be supply disruptions!" "Stores may run out of food!!!" "What shall we do???!!!!???" Fortunately, people here have compact living quarters, so hoarding can only go on for so long. I wouldn't mind empty store shelves if it meant the food and whatnot was being diverted to the Tohoku area. I'd write more, but I've got to run out and stock up on toilet paper...

We had a 6.4 earthquake last night, centered close to Tokyo. Carol and I talked about it in bed, and I heard Heather and Megan talk about it. Then we all went to sleep.

As you know, it was an earthquake with a magnitude of 6 that did so much damage to Christchurch New Zealand. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7 wiped out Haiti. I experienced a "foreshock" as they call it now a few days ago. That was 7.3.

What's it feel like on the 16th floor of a building built on reclaimed land? Like a ship rolling in the ocean. One friend who's been involved with Bible studies here lives just across the road in an apartment complex built a few years ago. Her place was a mess after the 8.9 earthquake in Sendai. We had some things fall over and fall down, but no damage. I think the difference is construction.

Here's an interesting link to give some perspective:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_big.php