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