John Elliot - Tsunami Aftermath in Iwate, Japan - Back to the Seaside - 21 March 2011

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Our gentle Shepherd asks us to pour out our hearts to Him, not because we are mighty in prayer, but because we are weak and feel our failure. Complaints are okay (read the Psalms), requests are okay - any request - God will adjust the answer to the need. You don`t need to try to pray the right thing - just do it. ’I will lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, Maker of Heaven and earth.’

The destruction we witnessed last week shocked us. Today, we visited towns south of the points we saw last week, with 2 pastors and an elder from Morioka. Soon teams will be coming - volunteers from Japan and abroad. Coming with supplies; coming to help. Where will they stay? Have they really brought enough food and fuel? Can we get them to the people who need help?

We are getting closer to answers, but they had better firm up tomorrow! Tomorrow we go back in; tomorrow we sharpen our focus a bit more; tomorrow we had better get some answers. Please pray.

And, please take this as it is; my personal observations, in this limited area, as of today. I don`t usually go for tear-jerker writing, but today I am moved. Today, I am astounded.

Who will clean up this colossal mess?

John Elliot

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BACK TO THE SEASIDE - IWATE

March 21, 2011

I hope our church members in Ajigasawa were encouraged by my message yesterday. As it is Lent, I preached about Gethsemane. What do you do when you are overwhelmed? The answer is, `pray`. I have always felt guilty, as I am not a great pray-er. But the scale of the disaster which has befallen Japan has given the word `overwhelmed` a new depth for me. Our gentle Shepherd asks us to pour out our hearts to Him, not because we are mighty in prayer, but because we are weak and feel our failure. Complaints are okay (read the Psalms), requests are okay - any request - God will adjust the answer to the need. You don`t need to try to pray the right thing- just do it. ’I will lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, Maker of Heaven and earth.’

The destruction we witnessed last week shocked us. Today, we visited towns south of the points we saw last week, with 2 pastors and an elder from Morioka. We went first to OHFUNATO, where we checked damage to the little church building there. It was a huge encouragement to hear that 3 members of the church, thought missing, were found. Now, all 4 are accounted for (the town had 40,000 people before the disaster; there is another church with 20 members - not quite up to the `one in a thousand` ratio of believers to non-believers we are used to). They are anxious for help in cleaning the building so they can continue services. The windows are broken; everything is soaked in smelly water and thrown around the rooms. The floor has 2 inches of slippery mud covering bits of broken glass. We hope to tackle it later in the week.

Neighbors of the church were clearing things out of their houses. The water had come up to the middle of the first floors in that area. One man told how his bed-ridden father had floated in his room for an hour until the water receded. A lady got us to take her heavy washing machine out to the yard for disposal. Everything is ruined. We had to move on.

Checking on 2 others, as requested by friends, we went downtown. The destruction there was much worse. It is hard to describe. There are lots of strange anomalies: boats on city streets, cars on roofs, houses floated on of top of one another; all the stuff you see on the internet. But, most of it is just garbage. Acres and acres of garbage; everything imaginable mixed in a vile mountain that is, frankly, beginning to smell. It will be worse as the weather warms. The photos are graphic, but they just don`t communicate the smell.

We drove through KAMAISHI, which was worse, but basically just more of the same. Then we crossed the next bit of high ground and dropped into OHZUCHI. The percentage of the town that was destroyed climbed higher and higher as we moved north towards MIYAKO.

MIYAKO CITY, IWATE PREFECTURE
The Yellow Captions at the Beginning of this Footage Mistakenly Identify the town as being in Miyagi Prefecture

It is Actually Miyako City, in Iwate Prefecture

Ohzuchi was beyond belief. One of the pastors was searching for an incommunicado friend. We were moving closer and closer to the area where the JSDF (Japan Self Defense Force) was still doing the initial sweep. We couldn`t proceed along the waterfront, so were forced to move uphill and along narrow back streets on foot. Then, we found them; the illusive `lost people`. The towns on the coast are built along the waterfront, and up into the steep gullies at the foot of the mountains. The wave- how high was it here? - had jammed an impenetrable wall of debris against the mountains, cutting these gullies off from the outside. In some places only 2 houses were left; in others, a dozen or more. The owners are there, with the few who managed to scramble to safety in the bare 5 minutes they had between the warning and the wave. They climb up muddy trails to a dirt road that connects them to the outside. They get supplies from the emergency center- an old school- and lug them back to their undamaged houses. Undamaged, but without water and electricity for the foreseeable future. These are the people at the end of the line; emergency services are reaching out for them, but there is a lot of just plain space between them and restored services. One thousand power poles are down; the town office is gone, along with the town`s decision makers. The town Emergency Response Center is gone, along with the contingency plans, and the people to implement them. Drills had been conducted, so people knew what to do, but there is no one to give coordinated leadership in the aftermath. This is a small town; it is among the last to be reached.

The little clusters of survivors, separated by spurs of the mountain, have adapted in varying degrees.  Those with dynamic, imaginative leaders have jury-rigged a water line from a mountain stream, directing it into a salvaged bathtub, heated by a fire in an oil drum cut in half. They are sitting around salvaged tables in someone`s yard, and have concocted a huge pot of soup from supplies delivered by relief workers. We followed hand written signs down narrow footpaths and between houses, to the next enclave. Two ladies and a man met us there. They were anxious to share their stories, and ask for information. Harried relief workers don`t have time to stop and chat. We were the first outsiders to bring them news of recent developments. They were surprised to learn that their little corner of the world had made it onto the Japanese National News for their can-do spirit, lugging supplies down a muddy trail to their haven. It really moved them to realize that they were not forgotten. Why are they still stuck there, then? There was a backhoe visible over the rubble, not more than 50 yards away, and JSDF personnel were busy removing downed power lines in preparation for clearing the road.  Surely they would be through in no time? 

`Oh no, it will take a couple of days at least,’ one lady said. 

`There are probably 40 corpses in there, and they have to stop and deal with each of them.’

She was very matter of fact about it, but the inescapable fact is that she would know most of those people. The tears would press close to the surface, then the speaker would rally and go on with their story.  As we talked, a little girl came skipping down the street from the undamaged houses behind us. The woman smiled.

`The kids think it`s a lark`.
The tears were close again.
`When I hear the children`s voices in the morning, it gives me hope. All the hope I have`.
The dignity of these people is impressive. They have not bathed in days; they have no clean clothes.
`What do you need?`
`Underwear. Medicine for our elderly. Hand disinfectant. Cold medicine. A radio that has local news that tells us something useful. Batteries. Heating oil`.
`Detergent?`, I ventured.
`We have no water`, she replied flatly.
`Soap? Shampoo?`
`Shampoo!`. Her eyes lit up. It was as though she had forgotten the existence of shampoo.
`Yes, shampoo. With a little water, we can wash and massage the old folks. And wash my hair.` She smiled ruefully as she tugged at her hair.
`It`s been days`.

We wended our way back to the valley with the improvised water line. The leader there said we should check the emergency center at the back of the valley below. He explained that they received enough supplies and more, but the center lower down didn`t. Once again, we saw people in need thinking of others they felt were worse off. He was happy to take a couple of solar powered flashlights, though.
`It`s awfully dark when the sun goes down.`

We proceeded to the center he told us about. It was up the valley a bit, but why didn`t they get enough supplies?
Their leader explained: `They count the people actually here in the center. We also take care of those in the undamaged houses behind us, and all their relatives and friends that are sheltering with them.’

As today was, once again, mostly a scouting trip to prepare for teams coming soon, we had only a few things with us. They received them gladly.

The teams are coming: the teams are coming! Volunteers from Japan and abroad. Coming with supplies; coming to help. Where will they stay? Have they really brought enough food and fuel? Can we get them to the people who need help?  We are getting closer to answers, but they had better firm up tomorrow! Tomorrow we go back in; tomorrow we sharpen our focus a bit more; tomorrow we had better get some answers. Please pray.

And, please take this as it is; my personal observations, in this limited area, as of today. I don`t usually go for tear-jerker writing, but today I am moved. Today, I am astounded.  Who will clean up this colossal mess?

John Elliot