Yesterday we returned to MIYAKO. The town was bustling. There was a palpable energy as the locals cleared trash and mud. The dazed look of the week before was gone.
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| Miyako Streets Under Control |
OTSUCHI is a very different story. With its low population (16,000, of whom probably 10,000 are missing), and all of the town leaders drowned, it has been one of the last to get attention from the overstretched emergency services. All of their local services were destroyed.
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| Kyodan Church |
We then went on to KAMAISHI – hammered almost as hard as Otsuchi. As the other churches were okay, we went to the Kyodan Church, deep in the affected area. We had to get out and walk. Kamaishi is tagging way behind Miyako, as the destruction covers more of the town. As we approached the church, we were amazed to see Pastor Ishikawa, from the Hirosaki Kyodan Church, standing at the front door! He was there to help, and introduced us to the local leader, Pastor Yanagiya. This man wants our help. We can set up a soup kitchen there, and help the neighbors. We can stay overnight on the second floor, above the watermark, so we don’t have to go all the way back out. This is a great opportunity or the team to show God’s love.
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| Inside Kyodan Church |
Then we moved on to the really pressing matter of finding housing for teams arriving soon. One of the Morioka pastors found a house in the town of TONO. It is a small city in the hills, 40-50 minutes from the 2 towns we want to work in. Tono is far enough from the affected area that life is nearly normal. It has now been rented for 6 months, for ongoing use by CRASH. The bonus: the owner runs a gas station! No more fuel worries (the situation is beginning to ease a bit).Divine appointments!
We have an appointment to meet a truck from Aomori at the emergency center we visited yesterday.
Please pray on. God is at work.
John Elliot
DIVINE APPOINTMENTS
March 22, 2011
At 5:00 a.m. we set out for MIYAKO from Morioka. We were able to get to the Miyako Kyodan Church, as the roads had been cleared a lot since last Friday. There we met one of the elders, a lady who lives across the street from the church. When the earthquake ended, she could not respond to the tsunami warning, as her husband is bedridden with Parkinson’s disease. There was little time before waves of black water rolled through the windows. She stood on the bed rail and held her husband up for 20 minutes, until the 2 meters of filthy water subsided. She managed to get him up the stairs, get both of them into dry clothes, then they huddled in bedding until morning. As there is a hospital nearby, emergency workers cleared their street right away. The pastor came and took them to a shelter in a school. At first, they got one small rice ball and one small bottle of water between them. Her husband was moved to a care facility, and she returned to her own home.
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| The Photo Copiers and Brand New Organ Destroyed at Miyako Church |
Volunteers from their group came from the outside and cleared the church, which had also been meters deep in water. The building, over 100 years old, had been flooded shortly after the Pacific War. Now it has survived another dunking, but the piano, 2 copiers, and the new organ were destroyed, along with most of the rest of the building’s contents. She was praising God for saving them in such terrible circumstances.
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| A Street in Miyako |
The town was bustling. There was a palpable energy as the locals cleared trash and mud. The dazed look of the week before was gone. One woman even had items out on the sidewalk for a water-damage sale - and had customers! Piles of trash remain between buildings, but progress is rapid (that is, on the initial cleanup - no power yet.) As a relatively small part of the town was destroyed, there are a lot of people to deal with the aftermath. We decided there was not a lot for us to do at this time, and moved on at 11:00 for Otsuchi.
OTSUCHI is a very different story. After the earthquake, the town’s go-getter mayor immediately got a tent set up near the town office, and called 30 of the town’s leaders together to decide what to do. Then the tsunami came. They are gone. Most of the town is gone; all of the important buildings.
Only a few places along the edges are left. There is no town government at all. There is no record of the missing and dead, and no records to from which to start, there is no one to organize anything. Ad hoc local committees have set up shelters (thankfully the town had good plans and drills for emergencies.) With a low population (16,000, of whom probably 10,000 are missing), it has been one of the last to get attention from the overstretched emergency services. All of their local services were destroyed.
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| The Army Handing Out Food in Otsuchi |
Upriver, there is a residential area on the edge of the destruction. A meeting hall shelters refugees. They have water, but no electricity or heating fuel. They were receiving food for those registered in the center, but not for the many residents in lightly damaged houses, and those who took refuge with them. There are between 100 and 200. Today, the JSDF showed up with its first supplementary food supplies - including apples from Hirosaki! We left the things we had brought from Aomori, and they were gladly received.
The next town was KAMAISHI, hammered almost as hard as Otsuchi. As the other churches were okay, we went to the Kyodan Church, deep in the affected area. We had to get out and walk. Kamaishi is tagging way behind Miyako, as the destruction covers more of the town. As we approached the church, we were stunned to see Pastor Ishikawa, from the Hirosaki Kyodan Church, standing at the front door! He was there to help, and introduced us to the local leader, Pastor Yanagiya. This man wants our help. We can set up a soup kitchen there, and help the neighbors. We can stay overnight on the second floor, above the watermark, so we don’t have to go all the way back out. This is a great opportunity or the team to show God’s love.
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| Arrival of the OMF Team from Hokkaido |
Then we moved on to the really pressing matter of finding housing for teams arriving soon. One of the Morioka pastors found a house in the town of TONO. It is a small city in the hills, 40-50 minutes from the 2 towns we want to work in. Tono is far enough from the affected area that life is nearly normal. It has now been rented for 6 months, for ongoing use by CRASH. The bonus: the owner runs a gas station! No more fuel worries (the situation is beginning to ease a bit).
Divine appointments!
We have an appointment to meet a truck from Aomori at the emergency center we visited yesterday.
Please pray on. God is at work.
