The landlady of Kami-no Ie has told me about her
situation. I think such situation, the situation that is frustrating, is the
reality of the affected area.
They have been doing their best to reopen their
minshuku (tourist home) Kami-no Ie. Their water supply has been fixed, though
only partly, and it works in the entrance of their house. However, there is no
water supply to the inside of the house.
There used to be more than 20 minshuku in the small
bay of Tsukihama. Kami-no Ie as well as another minshuku (these 2 tourist homes
were located somewhere slightly higher) have escaped the tsunami, but the
earthquake and the following land subsidence nevertheless caused severe damages
to Kami-no Ie. Besides the damage to the rear wall that is so visible, more severe
damage was caused to their bathroom and toilets.
“I will come back later,” said the plumber who had
previously worked on their house, when he came around to check the damages. He
has, however, not come back since. Although the landlady had repeatedly called
him, she was only told that he was short of hands. (He used to say he was short
of materials before.) She had to give up on him then, consulted the carpenter
who had built their tourist home. Luckily the carpenter managed to send them
another plumber, but this plumber had to see all plumbing fixture of their
minshuku, since he had never worked on their house. He even had to break some
of the covering structures to check the fixture, which turned out to be a tough
work. This work procedure is being carried on even now.
Another problem was their sewage disposal facilities
that happened to be located directly below the house. Since it was where all
debris had been accumulated by the tsunami, they first had to have a crane that
could remove the debris, before start fixing them. Soon, however, they learned
that the lid of the sewage disposal facilities had disappeared and the
facilities can no longer be used, as the damage is too large. Now they need to
install new sewage disposal facilities. But they don’t know when it can be done
and even if the instalment will be possible. So after all that, they still have
to use temporary toilets outside their tourist home. There are, indeed, many
obstacles.
People from the Civil Service, universities and
building companies came to discuss about Tsukihama’s reconstruction, and there
have already been 4 meetings. The husband of the landlady has contributed his
idea to the meetings: he has suggested that they should transform the dangerous
(low-lying) shore into seaside parks and build houses for the inhabitants on
the high lying areas. He also wishes to build a new structure of tourism that
would allow tourists to experience local fishery and take tours to the sea as
well as making the most of the scenery of Oku-Matsushima.
Some inhabitants have, however, strongly disagreed
with this idea. “We don’t want tourism. We just wish to carry on our fishery
and rebuild our previous living by the sea,” they have argued.
“No financial support will be given from the government
or the Civil Service if we don't follow their rebuilding guidelines that
prohibit building in low-lying seaside areas. We must think about the future,
then make reconstruction plans,” thus stressed the husband of the landlady.
However, the meeting itself is about to collapse as people have begun to leave
the meetings one after another.
Although temporary housing has been built, people
can’t move in yet for the shortage of household electrical appliances. I have
heard that, though the moving-in date was originally set sometime in July, no
meeting to explain about the moving-in procedure has been held. I know the
impatience of people who are still living in shelters. Some people try to think
about the future and save young generations from tsunami, while some wish to
carry on their previous life by the sea. Too many thoughts to make one big
decision.
I wish the landlady would talk about the problems she
and other people in Tsukihama are facing, that is, the reality of Tsukihama, at
the women’s meeting to be held on the 24th. It may give us some ideas for the
future. I actually called the landlady to talk about it last night, but she was
about to leave for the funeral of someone to whom she had been obligated for a
long time. That was a pity.
More than 4 months have past since the earthquake and
the tsunami on 11 March. Now people in Tsukihama are facing the dilemma of
whether to think about the immediate future or the far future, and I think
people in other affected areas are, too, facing the same dilemma.
We have to find a way that people in the affected
areas can all regain their liveliness. After all, they have cultivated their
living by the sea together over generations. It will be for the sake of the
lives that were saved from the tsunami.
An elder friend of the landlady.
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