Hi everyone.
Here is our result from Yamagata. This time it is a bit different from usual.
Sorry for the long sentences and many pictures in advance, but we'd like to take this opportunity to send our messages to everyone who are trying to support us.
The earthquake on the 11th March was a catastrophe far beyond our imagination.
Chihaya and I live in Yamagata prefecture in Tohoku. Since our hometown is in the south west of Tohoku, the damage to this area was minor, but our neighbors suffered terribly. Since we live closest to the most disastrous area among all the other sketchcrawlers in Japan, this time Chihaya visited Miyagi, one of the most devastated places and took some pictures to let us know the current status of the area. She visited the Sendai Airport near the coastline in Miyagi.
Comments from Chihaya:
One month has passed since the day but there are still places that left untouched. This time I understood the scale of the tragedy by looking at it myself. I'd like to share my photo crawl instead of sketches this time.
Tsunami damaged the airport but the Operation Tomodachi by the U.S forces made the runway available in such a short period!! It was fantastic! Thank you!
Recently on TV news, I saw the staff members of the airport had tears in their eyes when the airport went into service again. When I visited the airport I saw small number of passengers. I know that this place used to be much more crowded. It will take time until everything goes back to what it used to be.
The tsunami hit this airport. The escalator was covered with mud and it is out of service.
I visited the residential area around the airport. This area was also attacked by Tsunami. The road was accessible but I saw large amount of debris on both sides of the road. I saw this scenery in EVERY direction. I had never seen such a thing. There were some people who were cleaning the debris but no residents. I saw only the remains of their lives. I was overwhelmed and was just standing there...
In the Sendai city, I saw sakura in bloom.
On my way home, I found a sheet of paper attached to an electrical pole beside the road, saying "Thank you for helping us. Please take care on your way back." Someone who wrote this must be in a hard time after suffered from the disaster him/herself. I appreciated consideration for the others and thought, "We will help and support each other no matter how long it's gonna take for restoration."
Dear people around the world who have been encouraging us,
Thank you so much for your support. Please keep praying for Tohoku and Japan. It will take long time until restoration. With your thoughts and supports, the victims will have hopes for their future.
Dear everyone in Japan,
The devastated area needs to be supported for many years. Let's do it for Tohoku and Japan altogether!
Chihaya
2011.3.11に起きた東日本大震災は予想をはるかに超えた大惨事でした。
私達は被災地の隣の県の山形県に住んでいます。今回31st wwscにあたり、被災地の一番近くにいるので現場の状況を伝えようと思い、Chihayaさんは宮城県の海側の仙台空港周辺に行ってきました。
以下Chihayaさんのコメントです:
その悲惨さは1カ月経ったいまも手付かずのまま…。自分の目で肌で確かめてはじめてわかりました。今回はスケッチクロールではなくフォトクロールで伝えます。港は米軍の救援活動「友達作戦(Operation Tomodachi)」により短期間で滑走路が使えるようになっていました。素晴らしい!ありがとう!
ニュースでは1カ月ぶりに就航を迎えた女性職員たちが涙を浮かべていました。ところが実際に見ると、ほんの少しの搭乗者とロビーがあるだけ。これまでどおりの仙台空港に戻るまでは、まだまだかかります。
空港周辺の住民地は、道路は車で通れるものの、右も左も瓦礫ばかり。そんな光景が見渡す限りずーっと続いています。絶望というのは、こういうことを言うのでしょうか?いままでこんな景色を見たことがありません。人は片付けている業者以外ほとんどなく、ここにかつて住んでいた形跡があるだけです。
わたしは居た堪れず、ただ佇んでいることしかできませんでした。
どこかに希望は落ちてないかと探しながらの帰り道、県道258号線の電柱に「救援ありがとう気をつけて」という貼り紙を見つけました。それを見つけてじわっと緊張の糸が緩んでいきました。「そちらこそ大変なのに気遣いありがとう」という気持ちと「この先何年かかっても復興応援するから!」という2つの想いが胸にありました。
震災以来応援して下さっている世界中の皆さん、ありがとうございます。どうかこれからも、東北のために日本のために祈って下さい。復興するまで長い時間がかかります。被災者のみんなが希望を持ち続けられるよう、どうぞこれからも想っていて下さい。
そして日本の皆さん、みんなで長く長く東北を日本を支えて行きましょう!
I drew flowers of Ikebana, traditional Japanese flower arrangement.
Since the 11th March, I couldn’t feel calm for about a month but when I arranged flowers, I found myself completely healed and relaxed in the scents of them. I love flowers.
After the earthquake, I was involved in an activity to help people of the tsunami-devastated area.
A large amount of relief supplies were delivered from all over Japan and overseas as well to a warehouse in Yamagata.
We sorted all of them before delivering them to evacuation centers in the Pacific side of Tohoku.
Now many people from all over Japan are visiting the devastated places to participate in various volunteer activities.
Many people are doing what they can to overcome this hard time altogether.
After the 11th March, TV and newspapers reported a lot of sad news about the Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear everyday and I felt as if I had a deep dark hole in my heart. But when I knew that many people in foreign countries are trying to support and help us with thoughtful messages, I was very encouraged and really appreciated it. Everyone around me feels the same.
Thank you for your great support. We are all receiving your messages.
Maki
私はこの一ヶ月間、太平洋側への支援物資の仕分け作業に参加していました。
被害の少なかった山形は、沿岸部の被災地に向けた物資の搬送拠点になっていました。
日本全国や海外から届くたくさんの物資が仕分けされ、あちこちの被災地に届けられました。
これまで相当な量の物資を搬送したと思っていましたが、現地に行った方々は一様に、その被害規模に愕然とし、継続して支援していくことの大切さを訴えます。現地では復興に向けて歩き始めています。たくさんの人たちが日本全国から被災地を訪れボランティア活動に参加されているようです。
それぞれができることをして、皆さんで乗り越えていきましょう。