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Hey all,

Well, two months ago yesterday, a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.  I’ve been reluctant to blog about what happened.  I didn’t know what to write, how to write, and I know I didn’t want to contribute to the sensationalism at the time.  But I was reminded that the clean-up is still happening when I saw yesterday’s local newspaper- a catamaran that had been washed ashore and ‘grounded’ on the roof of a building by the tsunami, was finally lifted off and the newspaper had published a picture of it to mark the two-month date.

Overall, the earthquake damaged more than 18  of the 47 prefectures in Japan.  While not located in one of those 18 prefectures, we felt the effects in my little coastal town too.  Roads were blocked off, and the entire coastline was on a tsunami warning for over 24 hours.  A tsunami did hit my area with some damage as it traveled up local rivers, but it was minor in comparison to the damage in the Tohoku region.

Even though it has been 2 months since the earthquake struck, I will never forget watching the footage live in the TV in my office.   To see a bridge that, only a few minutes earlier, was well above the rising wave of seawater washed over and know that in earlier footage there had been people standing on it, and to witness cars going as fast as they can to out run the wave only to be completely surrounded- these are memories that still affect me.

I’m mentioning this now, because I have come across a blog written by a nurse who was sent to the Tohoku region after the earthquake and tsunami.  You may have seen this blog mentioned in the news, but it is worth re-posting.  The original blog can be found here, but it is written in Japanese.  An anonymous blogger has translated the entire blog into English, allowing even more people to read it.

I’ve only read a portion of the blog, but it is heart breaking.  Please continue to keep the Tohoku region of Japan in your thoughts and prayers, and please do not pass by the fundraisers because you are ‘tired of hearing about giant waves and death.’

In addition to coming across the translated blog, I also had a recent experience at one of my elementary schools that shook me quite badly.  An earthquake drill (it had been planned before the Tohoku earthquake) occurred during my visit to that school, and in my silly mind, I thought “This is good.  I’ll be able to see what the Japanese earthquake procedures are, and compare them to the ones back home.”
The earthquake drill was announced, and the kids ducked under their desks and performed countdown for 90 seconds.  Afterwards, I watched them run outside to the athletic field with their textbooks over their heads (as a makeshift protection from falling debris)… and I lost it.  My mind took what I was seeing and overlapped it with the images and news coming from Tohoku and I felt horror and fear.  These are my students.  And we don’t know when the massive earthquake predicted for my prefecture will hit, but we know it will be within the next 50 years which means that my students, these children that I know by name and love, will, at some point in their lives, experience the same thing that has just happened in Tohoku.
I started crying and I had to turn away from the group. And it took me a while to get myself under control.

This is incredibly selfish of me, but I don’t want to be alive when I hear about the earthquake occurring in my prefecture.