It`s weird to go from Minami Sanriku to Tokyo. From a place where weeds grow in the cracks of the barren, concrete foundations of buildings gone to a city over-inundated with buildings and flashing lights.
I spent the past four days in Minami Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture of Northeastern Japan. Minami Sanriku was a coastal town. In fact the whole town center was right on the water or on the river that lead to the ocean. That`s why the town is almost non-existent today.
The 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck at 2:47 pm. I was told you couldn`t even walk because the ground shook so hard. It only took 20 minutes for the tsunami to reach the coast line of Tohoku (Northeastern Japan). In that 20 minutes students returned home from school, many people were trying to figure out if their family members were ok. The Tsunami warnings were going off, but people didn`t know what to make of them. It just didn`t seem possible that the waves would be so high. But they were. At their highest the tsunami`s waves reached 15 meters. Taller then most buildings in Minami Sanriku. The town is set right between two small mountains, but the sides are steep and only the most nimble could hope to climb them quickly.
We can all imagine what it was like there. Even after coming to Minami Sanriku, I had to accept the fact I will never know what the members of this community felt , nor will I know what they have gone through since then.
O.G.A For Aid, the NGO that I was introduced to by the TOMODACHI Initiative has been helping in Minami Sanriku since March 16th, 2011. They were amongst the first to be able to bring in supplies to the community and they have been there ever since. O.G.A. now has a Sea Side Community Center with a library, computer lab, games, toys...things that kids need to keep being kids. I was lucky to be involved with the Green Farmers Association that O.G.A. has put together with farmers from Minami Sanriku.
The Green Farmers Association works to employ local farmer in fields that will be selling the produce commercially. These farmers get a cut of the profit as well as a source of employment. In a place where there is no town to work in nor people to sell extra produce to, commercial farming makes a lot of sense as large quantities of the produce is purchased by companies outside of Minami Sanriku. For two days I was able to help with the preparation of fields for the next planting season.
My trip to Tohoku served the purpose of seeing with my own eyes what havoc nature wreaked upon my country. I didn`t and don`t know how much my small contribution has actually done to help the community of Minami Sanriku. I hope it does help O.G.A. produce a good yield of the crop that they plant, but I came to realize that my contribution does not begin to count until I return here regularly and see projects through till their end. The fact that Minami Sanriku remains to be comprised of bare patches of concrete shows that Tohoku is not recovered and that people here still need to rebuild, recreate, and reconstruct their former homes.
Signs that people within the community are not giving up were all around me. The San San Market is comprised of temporary buildings but the spirit and laughter spilling out of the shops and small restaurants was audible. These shops benefit from the tour groups that come through to see what has truly become of this place.
I spied a middle school student reach out and take the hand of the girl walking back from school with him and I was reminded that even out of a tragedy of this scale, life continues, love can be lost and can be found again. The people of Tohoku will not forget what happened March 11th, 2011. And I don`t think we should either. A collective effort to recreate Minami Sanriku is needed. I saw that with my own eyes. I know from my work with the TOMODACHI Initiative that the young generation of Tohoku wants a future in the towns and cities that they grew up in. Hopefully by sharing my experience I can encourage more people to learn about what happened here and so that they can use any expertise they may have to help even a few more people get back on to their feet.
Tohoku Ganbatte! Tohoku stay strong!