Aftermath of Japanese Earthquake

Saturday, March 12, 2011

WE WATCH TV FROM THE MOMENT WE WAKE UP.

The news stations continue to cover the devastation of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

We still cannot reach family in Japan.

I have entered the names of my family in Google's people search (THANK YOU, GOOGLE!), but with no result.

We wait.

We watch.

We pray.

We decide to take Bachan out of the house to go shopping in San Jose. She shops a little for Japanese food, a gossip magazine. We eat ramen noodles for lunch. It is a good break for her.

We return to our home and the news.

The phone rings every hour or so. Bachan's friends ask if there is news of her family. My friends call giving support.

The phone rings at 3:55 pm. It is Mako, my uncle in Tokyo! He is fine. So is Kumiko, his wife. They wanted to call earlier, but there was no phone service. He waited to call, hoping he would have news of other family members. But he has heard nothing. He does say that Nobiru is "dom may" (bad). Everything [the town] is gone.

He hopes that my cousin Yoshio was able to run out of the house to the shrine which is two minutes away and then climb the steep hill out of harm's way.

But what about his aging mother who lives in the house next to him? If he stopped to help her, he did not have time to get to safety.

We do not know.

Mako is not so worried about my Aunt Eiko, knowing her house in Ishinomaki is high on a hill. Her greatest danger would be from the earthquake, not as much from the tsunami. That is what he believes. Eiko has two sons. One lives near her, but we do not know if it is high or low lying. Her other son, we call him Soccer Boy because he played soccer professionally at one time, lives in a city by the sea. Again, Mako says, "dom may" (bad).

We are grateful to hear from Mako and so happy he is alive and well.

The doorbell rings. Michiko, our neighbor across the street, stops by. Her husband is in Tokyo on business. He has called and is searching websites for names of our family. He knows them because Bachan always gives him a suitcase stuffed with See's candy and other goodies to take to Japan. He mails it from Narita Airport to northern Japan to save her money. He encourages us to call two phone numbers where survivors are assembled in Nobiru. The elementary school was flooded, but the water receded. He said everybody worked hard to clean it. There are many people there.

We continue to watch the news.

We are tired.

We are scared.

Bachan goes up to bed for the night.

Ten minutes later, she yells down the stairs:  Da newsu say 200 people dea(d) Nobiru jus now.

I Google the population size of Nobiru. I can't find it, but I remember it as a village. A tiny village.

May hope surround you,


Catherine