Visiting the disaster area as a volunteer with SWTJ- a report by Kentaro Kushiyama

Photo: Kentaro Kushiyama

In September, half a year after the earthquake and tsunami, I joined SWTJ's Kyoto Caravan for its sixth activity week in Tohoku as a volunteer and SWTJ member. It was my first trip to the disaster area. In spring, like everybody else, I had seen the huge damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami in the affected regions in Tohoku on TV and in other media. But recently, the media have reduced reports on the tsunami-afflicted area, and focus mostly on reporting on the Fukushima nuclear plant and on regions affected by the nuclear accident. So, when I arrived in the regions damaged by the tsunami last week and saw the disaster zone with my own eyes, I realized that reconstruction has hardly even started, and that it will be incredibly tough to rebuild after so much destruction. 

I also became aware that in the aftermath of the tsunami, people have to deal not only with how they deal with the loss and damage caused by the natural disaster, but also with how they can build new human relationships. While it is often said that natural catastrophes bring people together, it is also true that they create new barriers and communication problems among the survivors.  

Photo: Kentaro Kushiyama

Most evacuees who enter temporary housing have evacuated from coastal areas. Temporary housing, on the other hand, was built on high ground in hilly areas that was not reached by the tsunami. While before, it had been no problem for the people on the coast and those in the hills to live together in their common town Kesennuma, now that these people have to live so close upon one another, a smooth coexistence seems more difficult, and many people find it hard to communicate with each other. Rather than giving a place name, one of the evacuees would immediately answer 'I'm from the coast' when asked where she came from. Due to the difference in customs and culture between areas at the coast and areas in the hills, evacuees and people from areas hosting the evacuees now sometimes face serious difficulties in getting used to the customs and way of life of their new neighbors.

A 'sawakai' community gathering organized by SWTJ in Shizugawa,  Minami-Sanrikucho
(Photo: Jumpei Yamanaka)

For many evacuees, it is really hard to start living in a new environment and to try to build up a new network of friends. Unlike children, adults often find it hard to approach strangers, and to open their hearts. I really thought that there was a need to organize opportunities for these dislocated people to socialize with each other so that such barriers can gradually been broken down.

This became especially obvious to me when we organized a community gathering in Shizugawa Ward in Minami-Sanrikucho. The local head of Shizugawa Ward told us that this was actually the first time since the disaster that the citizens in his ward got a chance to all come together for a meal and friendly get-together. Some people dressed up for the event for the first time since the disaster. Everybody seemed to have waited for the opportunity to meet, exchange, and socialize. I strongly felt that people dislocated by the disaster should be given places where they can meet and socialize in a relaxed manner.  

'Saury'
Photo: Kentaro Kushiyama

SWTJ organized a similar event at Tsukidate Former Elementary School in Yase, in the hills of Kesennuma.  Here too, the school yard now houses a set of temporary housing barracks. The menu we cooked included grilled saury, a fish specialty of the Kesennuma coast. At the dinner, local people from the Yase area, disaster reconstruction volunteers who live in their own tents next to the school, evacuees who are now residents in the school yard temporary housing, and SWTJ members all gathered for a common meal. 'I d love to come again if a similar event is going to be held in the future,' said one participant who came over from the school yard temporary housing, 'socializing over a nice meal makes it easier to talk about things.'

After experiencing these encounters, I felt that there is a need to create places, even at times when SWTJ is not in the area, where people in temporary housing can socialize with locals, or with the people who like themselves live in temporary housing and who have little opportunities to meet each other.  

Photo: Kentaro Kushiyama

Kentaro Lionmaru Kushiyama (SWTJ Tokyo Branch)

 (translated and edited for the English version by B.Y.)