Last night, a group of people showed up with a refrigerator for the Tono house. They also had a 45 gallon drum of fuel. In my semi-aware state of fatigue, I understood it was kerosene to be delivered to Ofunato. I assumed it was for the shelters. They assumed I knew what I was doing. Bad news.
This morning I rooted myself and Armin Messer out of bed at 6:00, so we could deliver the “kerosene” before we went to the church to work. As we pulled into the City Office parking lot, I decided to catch up on my phone messages. It was then that I discovered the drum held diesel fuel intended for a team from Nagoya to go home on! We did a quick u-turn and fled to the church with our booty. The deal was, the team would come to Ofunato and fill up. Then the deal was, I had to haul the stinky stuff back to Tono. Apparently, they will drop by later to fill up here. I certainly hope so. The thing had a loose cap for the first few miles - I hate mud and I hate spilled diesel fuel. Ironically, the streets of Ofunato were jammed with traffic today. Apparently a lot of fuel got into the town today. They have passed the crest; the place is moving again.
At the church, we met up with a team of three from Word of Life in Karuizawa - Randy Salway, Naoya Takeda, and Tomo Koike. A lot of work later, we passed the crest - Randy started putting wood in, to prepare for drywalling. We have found insulation - in Hokkaido - which is to get here next Tuesday. We got the last bits of old drywall out, and the floor cleared to the mopping stage. It looks like this is going to happen.
As we had a bit of time, 3 of us went to clear trash from a park nearby. Who should come riding by but two of the Junior High girls who helped us yesterday. They are back in school. They, too, have passed a crest.
And, the mud. We have chased it out the door, except for some hiding under the shower unit. It has been swept off ledges and out of crannies. Even though it rained late in the afternoon, we were no longer wading.
You can tell where the wave crested by checking for the high water mark on windows and walls (think of it as the world’s most colossal bathtub ring). But, even after it crested, the wave took a long time to go away. At the Ofunato church, it was 90 minutes. We know, because that is how long the lady across the road clung to the top of a bureau, in freezing water, to keep from drowning in her living room. There are signs that we are passing the crest, but it will be a very long time until things return to normal. There is still much to do.
John Elliot
