Mieko Furudate of Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, lives alone at a temporary housing unit in the town. She meets friends of her at a different temporary housing unit once a week, but she finds herself sometimes depressed for the rest of the week, except when she is making handicrafts. That is why she has decided to work as a volunteer at a rest house for tsunami-affected people in the town. The facility, built within a complex of temporary shops set up at the compounds of a damaged elementary school, is run by a volunteer group based in Tohno, an inland city of Iwate Prefecture.
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Wide areas from northeastern Japan to eastern Japan were jolted by an earthquake with a magnitude of a staggering 9.0 at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, and 30 to 40 minutes later, the first blows of tsunami waves started hitting towns and villages on 500 kilometers of coastlines facing the Pacific and claimed a total of about 19,000 lives. The survivors of the catastrophe, notably the killer tsunami waves, enter the second year of ordeal this month. They have spent hard days and sleepless nights at evacuation facilities and small temporary housing units since the disaster. But many of them are trying hard to get back on their feet while endeavoring to keep their spirits from being dampened by the sad memories a year ago Some tsunami survivors and volunteers working to support them will be taken up in serial articles which may be found from today.
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The meeting place for affected people in Otsuchi is named “Rest House Kirari Station” and its manager, Hidetoshi Yoshida, a volunteer activist from Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan, likes to be called the “station master” and calls his staff “conductors.” “Ms. Furudate is welcome anytime. She already can be a member of our staff,” he said. (The photo at the top shows, from left to right, Ms. Sachiko Sato, Ms. Furudate and Mr. Yoshida standing in front of Kirari Station Rest House.)
Furudate lost her husband in the tsunami waves, which hit Otsuchi Town about 40 minutes after the earthquake rocked the region. She was working at a fishery processing factory near the port when the big tremor was felt. She expected strong tsunami waves would come and immediately decided to escape to a higher place with her colleagues.
On her way to the evacuation site, which was actually a Buddhist temple, she met her husband near their house. Because he appeared to be returning to their house to pick up something, she told him, “Escape right now! Just follow us!” That was the last moment she saw her husband. His body was found a few days later.
Furudate and her friends make what they call “Eco Tawashi” detergent-free scrubbing brushes. The material for the eco-friendly brushes, wool-like acrylic yarn, is supplied by Keiko Okabe, who has been helping to support the life of the survivors in Otsuchi since last summer. Okabe, a mother of a two-year-old boy who lives in an inland city of Iwate Prefecture, visits Otsuchi once a week and picks up their products. Then a network of supporters she belongs to sells the goods at events in support for tsunami survivors or through their website on the Internet.
Okabe sometimes personally takes part in such events to sell them. The revenue is used for activities for rehabilitation in the affected regions. (The second photo from the top shows, from left to right, Ms. Furudate, Ms. Okabe, Ms. Sato and Ms. Kishiko Hakamada. The third photo shows some of their products.)
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Wide areas from northeastern Japan to eastern Japan were jolted by an earthquake with a magnitude of a staggering 9.0 at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, and 30 to 40 minutes later, the first blows of tsunami waves started hitting towns and villages on 500 kilometers of coastlines facing the Pacific and claimed a total of about 19,000 lives. The survivors of the catastrophe, notably the killer tsunami waves, enter the second year of ordeal this month. They have spent hard days and sleepless nights at evacuation facilities and small temporary housing units since the disaster. But many of them are trying hard to get back on their feet while endeavoring to keep their spirits from being dampened by the sad memories a year ago Some tsunami survivors and volunteers working to support them will be taken up in serial articles which may be found from today.
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The meeting place for affected people in Otsuchi is named “Rest House Kirari Station” and its manager, Hidetoshi Yoshida, a volunteer activist from Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan, likes to be called the “station master” and calls his staff “conductors.” “Ms. Furudate is welcome anytime. She already can be a member of our staff,” he said. (The photo at the top shows, from left to right, Ms. Sachiko Sato, Ms. Furudate and Mr. Yoshida standing in front of Kirari Station Rest House.)
Furudate lost her husband in the tsunami waves, which hit Otsuchi Town about 40 minutes after the earthquake rocked the region. She was working at a fishery processing factory near the port when the big tremor was felt. She expected strong tsunami waves would come and immediately decided to escape to a higher place with her colleagues.
On her way to the evacuation site, which was actually a Buddhist temple, she met her husband near their house. Because he appeared to be returning to their house to pick up something, she told him, “Escape right now! Just follow us!” That was the last moment she saw her husband. His body was found a few days later.
Furudate and her friends make what they call “Eco Tawashi” detergent-free scrubbing brushes. The material for the eco-friendly brushes, wool-like acrylic yarn, is supplied by Keiko Okabe, who has been helping to support the life of the survivors in Otsuchi since last summer. Okabe, a mother of a two-year-old boy who lives in an inland city of Iwate Prefecture, visits Otsuchi once a week and picks up their products. Then a network of supporters she belongs to sells the goods at events in support for tsunami survivors or through their website on the Internet.
Okabe sometimes personally takes part in such events to sell them. The revenue is used for activities for rehabilitation in the affected regions. (The second photo from the top shows, from left to right, Ms. Furudate, Ms. Okabe, Ms. Sato and Ms. Kishiko Hakamada. The third photo shows some of their products.)
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