Fifteen Years

 There are some events that are etched into our collective memory.

I remember people saying that they remember exactly where and what they were doing when President Kennedy was assinated. I can remember what I was doing when Princess Diana died. These memories shape and define us as a people.

One event that is seared on to the collective memory of the people in Japan, both Japanese and foriengers is the disaster of March 11th, 2011.

Even though I live in Japan, I'm at the opposite end of the country and had no idea about the earthquake and tsunami intil one of students told me about it.

My student was a young lad, maybe 4th grade, his lesson was from 4 o'clock. He came but was acting very subdued, he was always full of energy but that day was the oppoistie. I asked what was wrong thinking that he had caught a cold or was tired from school. He said that his Dad had gone to Tokyo but there had been an earthquake and his Dad wasn't answering his phone. I told the lad not to worry that Tokyo is prepared for earthquakes and his Dad would be okay. The lad told me to go and watch the TV, he then added in English "Bad, very bad". That last phrase made me pause, he had never used English before! I turned on the TV and was shocked at what I saw.  The lads father was alright but it took a few days for him to contact the family.

The scenes on the TV were like something out of a movie. 

The intial earthquake struck at 2:46, off the Pacific coast of the Tohoku region of northern Japan. The earthquake was a megathrust quake, it was measured at magnitude 9, one of the strongest ever recorded in Japan, the fourth largest recorded in the world! The quake was so large that the island of Honshu moved 2.4 meters (7ft10ins) east and the earth moved on its axis by estimates of between 10 and 24cm   (4 and 10 ins). There were a lot of foreshocks and of course after shocks. 

I found this video on Youtube that gives an idea of the extent of the earthquakes.

Have your volume on when you watch this.

The earthquake alone was very bad but what followed made it even worse. 

A tsunami that took out whole towns. 

It's hard to imagine the scale of the distruction caused by the tsunami. I remember watching as buildings, houses, cars, trucks were washed away. I tend to think of the structures that are built are strong but not against such a force of nature. 

The last disaster that day was the Fukushima Nuclear power plant that went into meltdown. 

This is only my understanding, I might be wrong and if I am, I'm sorry.

When the earthquake happened the safety measures that are built into the power plant went into action. The nuclear rods were being lowered into the cooling water, this was powered by a diseal generater. This would have been fine if the tsunami hadn't breached the sea wall. The tsunami knocked out all power so the nuclear rods weren't cooled down leading to the melt down.

That day remains in my memory. I cried as I watched families realise that their loved ones weren't coming home, and what made it worse for a lot of people was the fact that people had been washed out to sea, their bodies never to be found. 

People lost everything, loved ones, pets, houses and jobs. I wondered how do you start again from nothing? 

It has taken many years, but the area today has recovered. There are still signs of the destuction caused by that natural disaster, but after 15 years I think people have been able to rebuild lives. Not the lives they had before but lives that bring some joy and maybe a new respect for the earth.

That area of Tohoku is sesimetcally active, there are earthquakes almost every month, most are small, just a 1 or 2. I don't think I could live there. I'm amazed at the people of Japan, their resilisance in the midst of such massive disasters is something to be admired. 

There are a lot of videos on YouTube about this day. Some are fascinating to watch, the skyscrapers in Tokyo look like they are dancing. The cranes on top of Skytree wave like flags, I flet sorry for the operators in them. One mad me smile, it's from inside Tokyo Tower, you can hear the annocement saying "There's an earthquake!", with the way the tower was swaying that was obivious.

Other videos are more harrowing, watching people being washed away in their cars, knowing that you are watching the last few minutes of their lives is awful (those videos I turned off). Some show the heroics of ordinary people as they pulled strangers onto buildings or up the side of hills. 

Today at 2:46 I will stop, bow my head and offer a prayer for the people of that area. I will pray that the survivors will find the strength for another year. 

Sorry if there are any mistakes in this post, I'm not feeling to great plus the app that I use to check spellings and grammar decided not to work today!