Earthquakes and tsunamis are not new to Japan and even the word ‘tsunami’ itself is Japanese in origin. However this time what made the difference was the enormity of the disaster. On 11 March, an earthquake of magnitude 9 hit north Japan. The earthquake then triggered a mega-tsunami along the north-east coast of Japan sweeping across cities, villages and farms. Waves of up to 30 meters rushed inland for as far as 10 kilometres and destroyed everything in their path. Of the three nuclear power plants that are situated along the north-east coast of Japan, the worst affected was the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Two other nuclear power facilities along the coast narrowly escaped destruction because the tsunami waves were not as high as in Fukushima. When a series of explosions triggered a massive leak of radioactive substances into the air, the soil and the water, the Japanese government declared a state of emergency and ordered the evacuation of all the people living within a radius of 30 kilometres of the Fukushima plant. The radiation leak is a cause of great concern not only for Japan and the neighbouring countries but for the whole world as well. The shock waves from the earthquake made a tremendous impact even on buildings in Tokyo, which lies almost 400 kilometres from the epicentre of the quake. Fortunately Japanese building technology has excellent earthquake prevention qualities and most of Tokyo’s buildings survived the quake. The cross on top of Tokyo’s St Ignatius Church bell tower did break away and some buildings in the Sophia University campus suffered some minor damage. The quake occurred at 2.45pm. The transportation system in Tokyo shut down immediately. That night almost 800 people took shelter in the Sophia University buildings as they were not able to return home.
In the first week of April I joined the relief operations in one of the worst affected coastal towns in north Japan. What we noticed at once was that it was the tsunami and not the earthquake that caused the greatest destruction and the loss of life. The small town itself had lost more than 1200 people in the tsunami. The Catholic church escaped the tsunami waves because it was situated on high ground, though even its ground floor was engulfed with seawater. The local parishioners soon cleaned up the church before using it as a place for the relief workers to stay and as a store house for relief supplies. We three scholastics, two Japanese and I, stayed at the presbytery of this church for a week and helped the various relief operations that were going on in the affected areas. Our work mainly involved cleaning up the houses filled with debris and sea-sludge. Sometimes we helped to distribute food and relief materials to people who were living in shelters and other temporary accommodation. Then we had a chance to meet the affected people. An elderly woman whose house we cleaned, broke into tears when we found her family album among the debris. In fact at the end of the day she was happy that at least she had retrieved her family album even though all her belongings had been swept away or were useless having been submerged in sea water for a long time. Tired as we were after the day’s work her bright face as she clung to the album and her words ‘Hontoni Arigatou’ (Thank you very much!) made us very happy. It was not uncommon to find many photos or albums, which relief workers retrieved from the debris and left along the streets, though it was not clear how many of the people in those photos were still alive or would come to pick them up.
The power of the tsunami, according to the local people, was terrible. Whole towns and villages were virtually washed out to sea. In some places along the coast even 10 meter high tsunami prevention walls could not hold back tidal waves reaching 10 to 30 meters high. Cars, houses, fishing boats and even bigger ships were floating like toys through the inland streets and roads. We saw water marks on the 4th storey of high rise buildings. Incredibly we saw cars and boats still dangling from the roof tops of buildings that survived the force of the tsunami waves. The most unbelievable sight for me was of an enormous 6,000 ton cargo ship that the waves had borne from the port where it had been anchored and dumped on a pier. Records say that this as the biggest earthquake and tsunami Japan had ever experienced. It is also the fourth largest earthquake ever recorded in the world since modern earthquake measuring equipment was introduced. It was the well-equipped earthquake and tsunami warning system, which works round the clock along the coastline and Sea of Japan, that saved thousands of lives.
More than a month after the triple disaster Japan was still going through the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War. More than 27,000 people were dead or missing and over 490,000 people were displaced. Among the displaced were a number of so called ‘nuclear refugees’ who fled from the 30 km danger zone around the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The evacuation centres struggled to cope with overcrowding.
With the roads destroyed, continuing aftershocks and limited petrol and electricity supplies, the movement of survivors was still being hampered. An ageing population and the lack of a young work force also hindered reconstruction work in many places. However the people we met were still hopeful about their future. Most of them were confident that their country would overcome this tragedy, just as they had done after a total defeat in World War ll.
What was more impressive was the order and discipline with which the people behaved even in a time of chaos. People queued in lines for hours without any grumbling, some even holding small children. There were no incidents of looting of houses or shops even though these premises remained unguarded for more than a month.
The Japanese are a remarkable and unparalleled model for exemplary behaviour during times of utter chaos and confusion!