On 31 May, there was a siren warning for torrential
rain in Miyagi. I was worried about A-san who lives in one of the
disaster-struck areas, so I called her. It was 8 in the morning, and she had
just come back from driving her husband somewhere. Scared of being in the
house, she was listening to the radio in the car with her 2 year-old child.
The ground floor of her home was damaged in the
tsunami, and so now she and her family live on the first floor, but as well as
the house leaning, the roof is leaking terribly, and she said that in the storm
the house itself was shaking so much that it was more frightening than she
could bear. She was thinking about going to the shopping centre or the regional
children’s centre, but neither was open yet. Her husband was out with their
elementary school-age child. She said she was afraid that if she and the 2
year-old were on the first floor of their house and there was a large
aftershock then, they might not be able to get out, so she didn’t want to go
inside.
They have been unsuccessful on their last three
attempts at the lottery to be assigned assisted housing. The people living in
shelters have priority, and those who have been able to go back to their homes,
even though they may be damaged, are lower in the order of preference.
But there is nothing on the ground floor of her house.
No tatami, no furniture, no sliding screens. In the living room, where there
should be tatami, there are now three bicycles, because their two cars were
washed away, and until they could buy a new one they had to do everything by
bicycle. The city has attached a red sign to the house: “Dangerous Structure”
When she asked whether there couldn’t be some work
done on the house to reinforce it, she was told that if repair work was done,
then they would definitely not receive any financial support in reconstructing
their home.
At first, they were in a shelter, but the children
cried so much that they then moved to a relative’s place. However, they felt
like they were putting a burden on their relatives and didn’t want to stay
long, so when the water pulled back they went back to their house. I went there
to deliver relief goods before Jo-Net had even started.
I asked her what she needed now.
“If I go to a shop I can buy anything I want, but if I
think about the mortgage, the car, and what will happen from now, I can’t buy
anything. I heard that in the shelters they have more food than they can fit in
the warehouse, and although I was embarrassed, I went and asked if they would
share it with me. But people at the shelters said it was no good; they were
told if it was shared with one person then there’d be no end to it. Even though
I was begging and crying, it was no good.”
Things really were bad, I thought. I asked her what
specific things she needed. While insisting “But we’re OK,” she said the
following: “Rice, seasonings, groceries, daily necessities, tableware. If we
could just get the mud off our tableware we’d be OK, but even using Haita
cleaning spray it’s still dirty.
“Having said all that, it seems weird to ask for those
things, doesn’t it? (No it doesn’t!) I don’t know how things will turn out, so
I can only buy the bare minimum.”
“We applied for a flat but were told that there’s a
300 person waiting list. All the ground floors of the buildings round here were
under water, so the people who were on the ground floors are moving to the
first floors, and when the ground floors are repaired then new people move in.
I think a flat would be impossible.
“But we’re fine, you know? Getting a call like this
has made me feel better,” she said, but it was really very tough. She sounded
very tearful.
People who are no longer living in
the shelters are effectively not getting any groceries and daily necessities
given to them. And how comfortably
can they live on only rice, seasonings and instant food? I know that things
like meat, fish or vegetables have to be bought close by, but I was wondering
if there wasn’t some way that we could help with that.
If you have extra food, or have a
campaign to get things like rice, seasonings, instant foods, preserved and
canned goods and other foods that don’t go off quickly, then please send them
to Jo-Net.
Also needed are daily necessities
like underwear, socks, T-shirts, shampoo, conditioner, detergent, cling film,
aluminium foil etc.
-Miporin
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