Sunday, March 11, 2012

One Year Anniversary Of The Japan Tsunami & Earthquake






It is hard to believe it has been a year already. The most jaw dropping photos of natural destruction ever.

17 comments:

canadachick said...

those are CRAZY pics especially the overpass one = holy hell

Krystal said...

I watched a documentary about the tsunamis and earthquakes and the sense of community was really incredible. The way everyone just pulled together to help each other was like nothing I've ever seen before. I don't know if it's true or not but I also read that there was no looting b/c the Japanese people felt that this would bring bad fortune to the people that they were robbing (I might have that wrong so don't quote me! lol).

I hope those towns are being rebuilt and people are getting back to their former lives. I have to say that I haven't read much about it in the paper for months though. It's crazy how we just move on to something else after a little while.

amazonblue said...

This morning, CBS Sunday Morning did a segment about the 1 year anniversary.
They said progress is slow due to the enormity of the destruction and the areas hardest hit don't have anywhere to put the rubble. Landfills are hesitant to take it for fear of radiation and asbestos, so it sits in huge piles.
Most areas are clear but desolate with little to no rebuilding done. It's too overwhelming and slow going.
They also said that the Fukashima nuclear plant came the closest to having a meltdown very recently.
The Japanese people have lost much faith in the government over the continued issues with the power plant.
One bright side was a man who is making dolls in the likeness of the children lost, he sends them to the parents to honor their memory and attempt to allieviate their grief.

Land Manatee said...

I will never forget at around 2:36am in my time zone I was awaken from my sleep because I felt an earthquake. I was close to some blinds and geld onto them to balance myself. The sensation lasted fir about a minute or more and I kept staring into the darkness contiplating whether I should get up and grab my daughters and pull a mattress over us in the tub for protection (only thing I could think of at that moment). I was also on the verge of hollering at my husband to wake up, but hesitated because he always wakes up so confused and I thought it would be a wasted effort. In the time span all this was occuring, my heart was racing and I could feel my body bead up with sweat. Mind you I was still jolding on to the blinds because it feel like the room was spinning but I couldn't pinpoint an onject in the darkness to confirm my feeling ( I forgot to mention I was in our living room on the recliner. I had fallen asleep watching a movie hours before).

auntliddy said...

Was reading newspaper article this morning. Not only was there destruction of property, alot of people died as well, so less people to help rebuild. I wish them well in their rebuildjng. I cant even imagine the work. And then the whole problem of radiation from the power plant.
I wish everyone thought looting and stealing were bad luck.

Land Manatee said...

Continued...
Suddenly, the sensation stopped and I actually felt pretty silly. You see, ANY type of earthquake in my region is not common at all, so I chalked it up to a dizzy reaction from waking up to quickly. I stayed awake for another 5 minutes just to make sure there was no more shaking and that nothing had broken and then fell asleep.
When I woke up 6 hours later and turned on the TV, every major news network was carrying coverage on the tsunami. My heart and jaw dropped when they reported that the powerful earthquake that had triggered the tsunami had occured at approx. 2:36 pm local Japanese time.
There is a 12 hour time difference between me and Japan. I am an entire country away. Call it what you will, but I do not doubt that somehow I felt this occurance even though I was thousands of miles away. I prayed for all the lost souls for days and was glued to my TV.
As a poster already commented, after days of watching LIVE footage, I was most touched by the character of the Japanese people in a time of such a huge disaster. They were so calm and collected and even though they were in the highest state of human emotion, they were so orderly and compassionate. There was no rioting, looting or images of mass panic. It was almost very calm the way people stood in line waiting their turn to get supplies.
I kept thinking how different the environment would have been within hours of this type of disaster had it occurred somewhere else.
I have alot of respect for the Japanese people and culture after I watched what happened in the hours and days after this disaster. They set an example to the world.
I also want to say how magnificent of the man who makes the children dolls. I hope it doesn't creep out the parents and instead provides some comfort.

I just wanted to share my link to this event as it will always remain with me.
*Sorry for the long post and all the spelling errors. Blogger sucks when accessed through my iPhone. I had to run and switch to my laptop.

EmEyeKay said...

The Atlantic has some fantastic before and after photographs. I can't look up the link at the moment but it's worth checking out.

I read recently that the debris (some god-awful huge amount that I don't remember) should be hitting the west coast soon.

EmEyeKay said...

The overpass photo makes my stomach flop.

Chrissy Buns said...

Those picture still give me chills. We had a 2 hour delay in our school district that day because of the tsunami warning issued. (I live in coastal Washington state) I drive school bus, and when the time came that day to pick up the kids, I would say 75 percent of parents opted to NOT send their kids to school. (I sent mine, I'm such a bad mommy!) Since I also work at the grade school, we used that day to educate the kids about earthquake safety, and we also tried to get the kids to understand the scope of what had happened in Japan. It was a sad and scary day for the whole entire world.

@amazonblue, thanks for sharing about the man who is making dolls. That is just such a beautiful gesture, it made me cry :)

nunaurbiz said...

I'm at the Housewares Show in Chicago and today I met some manufacturers and designers from companies in the regions most affected by the tsunami. The government organized the trip here (and last month to Germany) to help them get back on their feet. It was very touching to meet these people.

Anonymous said...

So sad and so destructive. I wish there was more we could do. Unfortunately, natural disasters don't have a very long shelf life in the media or social awareness. We all move on so quickly.

mlovesny said...

That looks horrible!

mooshki said...

EmEyeKay I think I found a link to the pictures you were talking about here. You click on the pictures to get the "afters." Some of them show rebuilding, but as Amazon said, some of them they just cleaned up and left the sites desolate.

NPR has a story about a shelter that is still rescuing pets from the exclusion zone. "'It's like a mission,' she says. 'And as a human being — since people have been evacuated from there, why do these dogs have to be left there? So it's very natural for us to go there and rescue them.'" The way the Japanese people first responded, and are continuing to respond is amazing and inspiring.

mooshki said...

Oops, that NPR link was an old story - here's the new one. I think it's about the same shelter, but they're talking about how hard it is to keep taking care of all of these rescued animals. The volunteers keep them clean and fed, but they just don't have enough time to give them the walks and attention that they'd like. But it's still amazing that they've continued to care for them all this time.

smash said...

It amazes me the lack of coverage this extreme event has had in the US. I think out of fear the government says nothing. Imagin if they admitted to the levels of radiation still hitting the West Coast, mass panic. Days after the earthquake everywhere around me sold out of iodine and kelp. You need to take it everyday to counteract the radiation. I do. If every person did, we wouldn't have enough to go around. So instead of freaking everyone out, they do nothing.

*steps off soap box

mesapotamia said...

The overpass photo is actually from the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

Lelaina Pierce said...

@Mooshki - Sad. :(

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