Damage Along the Shore of Miyako, Iwate Prefecture
(Photo by Martin Ghent)
March 17, 2011Martin Ghent and I set out from Misawa at 7:15 a.m. in a borrowed diesel van. All the way down there were lines of cars at gas stations; one had a sign saying they would take the first 500 cars - that is a line over a kilometer long. By noon they were closed. People were lining up for kerosene as well.
We had lunch at Morioka Bible Baptist Church. We had some supplies from Misawa and got some more in consultation with a young woman who attends the Bible Baptist church and was in contact with her father (phone mail?) who lives in Miyako, where we were going. We took Pastor Kondoh of the Morioka Bible Baptist Church (CB) with us, as he had connections there and wanted to go to introduce us and see the situation. The road in was wide open, and passage was allowed for anyone. It is a winding mountain road. Light snow made the road treacherous.
We left Morioka at 12:20 and arrived 2:10 at Miyako Community Church (planted by Norwegian missionaries; now a small, independent church led by Pastor Iwastsuka). The pastor was at the emergency center talking with people who had taken refuge there. He had been doing so for several days. We talked with his wife, but she was unsure what to do and couldn`t contact her husband, so we set out to see the situation. The church was completely untouched - they had water and electricity by the second day. But 300 meters down the road, the head of the flooding started - no water or electricity there. Rubble had been piled 3 feet high on both sides of the road; locals were adding the ruined contents of their houses to the piles, and scrubbing mud from the first floors. As we proceeded, the buildings got worse: several had collapsed. We were stopped from proceeding to the end of the seaside road because the Self Defense Force was still working beyond that point. (Looking for bodies.) Up on a bridge above the town, we could see a valley where the higher houses were cut off by the huge drift of rubble below them. The pastor`s wife said another part of town was hard hit, but we didn`t see that. The village of Taro, where we were stopped the night before, is just to the north of this point.
Miyako Community Church (Photo by Martin Ghent)
We were told there were three types of victims. Some people stay at their wrecked houses burning rubble for heat, and waiting to see if family members will show up. Some go to emergency centers because their house is gone. Some go because they are afraid to stay in their house even if it is all right. There were not many in the center we visited, and we were told they had no immediate need of the supplies we had. We went to the town`s emergency supply distribution center (the water dept.) and for the first time we found someone who actually wanted what we had brought. They were very glad to get the supplies: water, canned coffee, oddments of food and medicines, paper hygienic products, apples and juice, blankets and futon). They would have been happy to have had batteries and gone over the moon if we had brought gasoline and kerosene. In other words, the stuff we can`t get, either.
I do not think there are people who cannot get basic shelter, water and at least some food, if they choose to go and get it. Many were already digging out, but few of the buildings in the affected area will be easy to fix.
The consensus seems to be that the death toll will run well into 4 figures, so the people we talked to have to be facing up to the loss of at least some acquaintances, eventually. None of the church members died.
On Monday we hope to return and visit the next two towns south - Ohfunato and Kessenuma, both of which have churches known to Pastor Kondoh, who plans to go with us again. By then we should have a clearer idea of what is going to be needed to take the next step after immediate rescue and road clearing.
The bottleneck is gasoline. It will be for anyone who comes in this next week. Take it from me; BYOG, or walk. If you can pull a rabbit from a hat, plastic kerosene cans, metal gasoline cans and gasoline powered generators would be welcome. They are wanting blankets at present, but apparently supplies are piled up at nearby points, awaiting transportation the last little distance. Paper products - toilet paper, disposable diapers, tissues, etc. will be an ongoing need, I would guess.
The eeriest thing is the abrupt line between the totally destroyed and the completely untouched; literally, next door. How will people process this? Half the town lost everything, the rest `got off easy`; at least, it must seem so to the locals. Everyone is acting too normal; surely there will be a lot of delayed reaction.
Hang on, and pray. Look to God this Sunday. We all need grace, strength, and wisdom.
Hopefully, we will have something solid for you by early next week.
God bless
John Elliot
http://www.crash.japan.com/ Japan Resource Help Center
