Tsunami PTSD and the road to recovery

This is about my friend OY from Ishinomaki.

She lost her house, family business and both parents in an instant. She herself was inside a car that was submerged by the tsunami. Miraculously, OY survived. However in the shelter, this single woman who has gone through the most traumatic experiences, has her story ignored.

Since moving to the temporary accommodation, OY has been participating with us in the Jonet salon.
At the Sendai 'Women's Communication Space' event, she told us she wanted to find a job that would enable her to keep on living as a single woman. Through participating in the Jonet salon, OY received encouragement from many people.

She still experiences flashbacks and requires medical treatment for PTSD.
Every time she hears the sound of a building's shutters coming down she remembers the noise her car made while crashing into things under the surging waters of the tsunami.

Before the six months memorial service for those who perished in the disaster, it took her two days to file the death reports for her parents.
The pain of remembering through completing interviews and reports was akin to being cut to pieces.

'I thought I had dealt with my feelings, but my body started shaking, my hand stopped writing, tears welled up and I couldn't stop crying. Putting into writing the details on how my parents went missing in the disaster was more traumatic for me than when I had just imagined it.

I thought I had already accepted my parents' death, but this made me feel the real weight of the tragedy. Even though I may look fine, these are still painful days for me.'

Despite all this, in September OY secured an accounting job which she will begin in October. Her new workplace is only eight minutes walk from her accommodation and this also gives her peace of mind.

For a woman in her forties to find work in a town plagued by unemployment like Ishinomaki is nothing short of a miracle. This success comes as a result of her fight and from the encouragement she received. Thank you everyone for your support.

'If you are alive, good things will certainly come to pass' is how we feel about OY's story. Yahata

Living in temporary housing and then a typhoon

It seems there are problems arising in the temporary housing both with relationships between people, and among parents, children and relatives.

Ms S., who kindly came to the women’s storytelling event, is currently living in the temporary housing at Onagawa.
The other day I posted Purple Hotline flyers and cards, and Great East Japan Earthquake Miyagi counselling hotline cards. I received an e-mail from Ms S. saying “I was really glad to learn about the freephone counselling service. Please pass on my thanks to everyone at Jonet.”

She went on to say that the people at the Onagawa temporary housing had been told to evacuate during Typhoon Roke, but their escape route was flooded, so they all moved to an assembly hall on slightly higher ground. It really pains me that everyone in the disaster area has to put up with so many difficulties.

The temporary housing that was built by cutting into the mountain side is very damp and the futons the residents have received as donations quickly go mouldy. They are worried about allergies and pneumonia. Ms S. thinks it would be nice to have heated carpets as the mornings and evenings are chilly. These are electrical appliances so it’s difficult for Jonet to organise them, but they are urgently needed so people can maintain their health.

I feel bad that I can’t take part in the salon much as I’m so busy with work
But if there’s anything I can do to connect things together I would like to do so. （ＴＯ）

Freephone telephone counselling
・0120-941-826（toll-free from anywhere in the country / women only）
24 hours a day/ all year round
Organizers： NPO National Women’s Shelter Net
（Calls from the disaster area have priority, but the lines are quite busy）

・０１２０－９３３－８８７ Great East Japan Earthquake Miyagi counselling hotline (including domestic violence and sexual assault)
Mon to Fri (not including weekends and holidays) 08:30 – 16:45
Freephone from within Miyagi prefecture（this line is not that busy yet）
Organizers: Cabinet Office, Miyagi Prefecture, NPO Hearty Sendai

Reportage No. 7 from Kami-no Ie

The recent situation in Tsukihama and the “Tourism Revival Project”

The landlady of Kami-no Ie has told me about the recent situation of Tsukihama in Higashi-Matsushima.

First of all, most of the debris has been removed.
A month and half have past since people moved into the new temporary housing, and there are cheerful voices to be heard.

It was only yesterday when 40 student volunteers from Teikyo University came to Tsukihama. Actually, they came to Miyagi prefecture as a group of approximately 200 people, and then they were split into some groups so that they could go to several affected areas.

Tsukihama has a traditional event called “Enzunowari” which is one of nation’s Important Cultural Properties, and there are also a holy grotto and a shrine that enshrines a special god. The grotto was flooded above the ground by the tsunami. And the shrine, though it escaped being flooded, has been damaged by the earthquake.

The student volunteers did the mowing quite elaborately around the grotto and the shrine.

“I gave them all scythes I could find. But those young people today didn’t really know how to use them. Still it was very kind of them to come and do the mowing work. Thankfully, it is all clean around the shrine now. Another group of 30 volunteers will come tomorrow, and we will make curry for them. Since I’ve got a big rice cooker, I shall work hard to welcome those people. You see, we were given food for a long time after the disaster, and now it’s our turn to prepare food for other people. I’m finding it all fun! We had never thought the earthquake and the tsunami could be as devastating as this, but we had never thought that so many people who don’t even know us personally would come to help us either. I do feel that I should be fine because I have been given so much support from many people,” said Ritsuko ever-warmheartedly.

Her husband has been making Tsukihama’s revival plans, and now Mr. S and Mr. K from Media Research are also involved. Illustrations have been inserted into the plan with their assistance, and the plan-design is almost completed.

A fund called “Tourism Revival Project” has been set up by Kami-no Ie. They are now looking for people who wish to contribute to this project. (They can make their contribution in units of 10,000 yen.)

The reward will be either 1) 100 sheets of toasted nori (edible seaweed) or 2) trial fishery experience in Tsukihama, and either one will be rewarded in 2 years time from now on.

I would like to take this opportunity to ask for your aid. Let’s support them!

For more information, please check the “Tourism Revival Project（観光再生プロジェクト）” in their website:
http://www2.ocn.ne.jp/~kaminoie/mousikomi.html

The sea is once again clean.
People have started nori planting in Tsukihama.

An elder friend of the landlady of Kami-no Ie.

“Iriya Welfare Temporary Housing” OPEN

On the 30th August, we received some joyful news from a person, introduced in the “Letters of gratitude” section:

Reopening of homes for the elderly
Starting tomorrow, 13th September (Tuesday), we are accepting applications from up to 18 people. The address is Minamisanriku town, Iriya district, Yamanokamidaira 31-2

In our correspondence so far the person has been writing about how, on the way home from work, their legs led them straight to the shelters. But her voice on the phone today was really excited!

At Jonet we have a lot of bedclothes and covers stacked up, so I’m on my way to take a happy photograph (of the people at the home after donating).

Don’t miss it!

A Mother’s Anguish

We met a woman in her thirties who had lost her husband and second daughter. She had also lost three relatives from her family home.

Her husband’s body was discovered on a cliff, but to date none of the others has been found.

She is now living in an evacuation centre with her eldest daughter.

She told us that she was finding her eldest daughter a nuisance. She said that she was consumed by thoughts of her younger daughter, while relations with her eldest daughter were hostile. She even expressed that she wished to stay in the evacuation centre and not move into temporary housing.

The evacuation centre residents now number only around 100

Autumn, the season when the miscanthus grasses blow. 

Once more we prepared powdered green tea.

The moving of families to temporary housing continues. 

It is expected that everyone will be moved by the end of October.

Mid-demolition. The far building is no longer standing.

Evacuees who have come to visit the ruins of their home.

In one area of the site, people have left incense, flowers and

rice bowls by the side of some house remains.

The yellow helmet in the front of the picture is a Jizo Buddha statue 

As a small child, I would buy things in this old bookshop on credit using my father’s name.

After the disaster and a change of location, it looks set to reopen!

City of Ishinomaki, Iinogawa district

Preparing an exhibition room of mementos

“I’ve been looking for this all along”, this lady’s voice rang

with excitement as she just found a lost memento.

On weekdays there are about 5 to 10 visitors a day, but during the weekends they increase 3 or 4 times. 

Many items that belonged to Ogawa Elementary School students have also been brought in. 

“In the beginning, people from this area had an aura of 'don’t talk to me' around them, but now they even thank us. All that people need in the stricken areas, is time,” shared one of the volunteers.

  

A meeting with Unilever Japan‘s CEO in Tanigawahama

“If a disaster strikes the people in charge are the first who have to action, visit that area and think how they can help the people there“ that is the position of Unilever.

Even the CEO of Unilever himself participates in removing mud. There are also 14 women who are working alongside the men. They have taken days off and are here as volunteers.

It was a hot day with the sun shining fiercely. We asked them if they‘re not worried about getting sunburn or breaking their nails, but the women replied, “If we were worried about such things, we wouldn‘t have come here. It feels good to sweat a bit. All of the female colleagues wanted to come here.”

Things found in the mud are washed and left to dry in the sun

A pond in a temple

We heard from the construction workers that the cedar trees

turned red up to their tree tops; they were 25m high.

The one who was working the most was Unilever Japan‘s CEO

Children‘s toys found in every place are put aside with great care 

The sight of the women taking part in the removal of the rubble

gives a strong encouragement to the disaster victims

The driver‘s seat inside a car

Suddenly out of nowhere appeared a squashed bra

The remains of a house

The remains of a house’s foundations

The wharf is cracked like a jig-saw puzzle

The root of a tree washed up on the shore

A man being interviewed

Unilever style fashion

Ishinomaki City, Oharahama

It has been a while since we visited this place.

On a glimpse, it looks as if nothing had ever happened 

but actually ...

2nd Universal Health Day in Yokohama

“This time, we collected donations at the site to support the activities of Miyagi Jonet.　(Omitted)  Refuge shelter… Under a blanket, a woman washes herself off, changes clothes, and when she washes her underwear, she has no place to dry it. All the time, she feels tense because just one cardboard box away, a man is sleeping.  In disaster-struck areas, there is a need for facilities that allow women to live with a feeling of safety and security; that allow men and women, young and old, each and every person to live with dignity. We pray for the health of everyone at Miyagi Jonet, who act from a gender-based viewpoint, and we would like to support your activities.”

This was the appeal, attached to an introductory essay on Miyagi Jonet.

World Sexual Health Day Yokohama was held on Sept. 4, and a donation box (for Miyagi Jonet) was set up at the reception desk. Today, we received your donations, as well as the handicrafts materials that we had requested in our Jonet blog.

We would like to use this occasion to thank everyone involved, from the bottom of our hearts. May we please ask you to continue providing your warm support to the people affected by the disaster.

Miyagi Jonet

New Book by Psychiatrist Naoko Miyaji

Jonet recommends this book – it’s written in a very easy-to-understand style. Earthquake Trauma and Reconstruction Stress

Iwanami Booklet No. 815  Iwanami Shoten  Price: 500 yen

"The damage inflicted on our hearts (trauma) by this unprecedented earthquake and tsunami disaster will, over time manifest as unexpected stress or problems in our relationships with other people. Those who survived question why they did, again and again, and feel guilt and anguish. Supporters burn out over time. People living far away feel a great sense of helplessness. This books helps understand the complex effects of the disaster, and shows people how to face the ensuing problems and provide support for each other."

Iwanami Shoten