Disaster in my second home

Just a forewarning, this is far from the slightly humorous posts I normally write, but it is a very important topic, and one I would like to address.

As you all know, the eastern coast of Japan has been struck both an earthquake and subsequent tsunami, and is now dealing with a sticky situation at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant. First off, I'm completely fine. I'm pretty sure everyone who reads my blog already knows this, either via facebook or by word of mouth. The situation is far from over, but I'd like to share my thoughts and observations regarding the events (and media coverage thereof) of the past few days.

We felt the earthquake, to be sure, but my officemates and I experienced, at worst, somewhere between a 3 and 4 magnitude quake. What does that mean? That means I could feel the building shaking a bit, the windows rattled, but nothing fell off my desk. Not even the stack of loose papers. We debated for a full minute or more as to whether to bother going outside or not. So not exactly a dire situation. After it seems to start to settle a bit, it got stronger again, which previous earthquakes I've experienced never did. Everyone else seemed to think that wasn't the best sign, so we decided to head out just in case. Thankfully, my office is on the first floor. I can get to an exit lickety splity, and even better, there is a large open green space on campus, so it's pretty much ideal. We even had had a little sensor go off (connected to an advisory network through cable TV) that told us a 3-ish earthquake was coming in 30 sec. Pretty cool. It has gone off before and ended up a false alarm, but it was pretty much spot on this time. It has since gone off a couple times in the following days, but those we didn't really feel anything in Ogaki.

We threw on the TV and found out it was a pretty big, with most of my co-workers talking about how it shook here, and looking at the TV footage saying, "dang, that isn't good" etc. But none of us (at least certainly not I) realized the scope of it yet, as the tsunami had yet to hit. We all went back to work, but left the TV on to stay informed. I realized the earthquake and subsequent tsunami had hit in an area where a good friend of mine lives, along with a couple other acquaintances. Cue an insatiable appetite for the latest information on what was going on. I went to capoeira practice, anyway, to maintain some normalcy. And I had previous plans with friends to head on a day trip to a microbrewery in the neighboring prefecture. We went ahead with them, quite frankly, because we weren't sure what else to do. Moping around wasn't going to help any of the victims, so we went, with plenty of guilt, to grab lunch and a few brews. We had a bit of fun, but there the air over our table was heavy, knowing elsewhere in Japan people were experiencing unimaginable devastation. We kept up on the latest via Twitter, Facebook, and other sites as to what was going on. We then headed back to my place to make dinner and play a couple board games. I'm not sure if this was the right thing to do. I'm not entirely sure what to do in this sort of situation. One really does feel utterly helpless. The best we can do from here at the moment is give money to the relief cause. It's not yet the time for untrained volunteers to head to the affected area. Supply chains aren't in place, they are having trouble getting enough food and fuel to where it needs to go. We'd just get in the way.

So far away, yet it feels so close. I'm extremely thankful that I live in an unaffected area, I also feel very guilty and helpless, more than I have before. I certainly didn't feel guilty for not living in New Orleans, I felt lucky. But I think at some point, unconsciously, the communal spirit of the Japanese society has at some level burrowed into my head. I don't think I've felt this personally involved in a natural disaster before. It feels so close, and it feels so personal. I don't have the luxury of sitting back and making insensitive comments about the tragedy on my Twitter account like, say, Gilbert Gottfried, does. I've only heard vaguely, and second hand, that there have been idiots on the internet in America who have compared this to Pearl Harbor, having the audacity and nerve and lack of human compassion to claim this is karma for that. I don't think I'd be able to control my anger were I to meet those people. But thankfully I don't have to meet them, and thankfully there have been many more who have expressed their concern for Japan. And I'd like to thank everyone who contacted me via e-mail, facebook, or whatever wondering how I was doing, it was appreciated. It's good to know people are paying attention. But then again, how could you not? The media inundates us with images and video almost non-stop.
I have been able to watch the Japanese news first hand, and not been subject to the usual overdramatic, sensationalistic western media outlets. As I'm sure you all know, one of the consequences of the tsunami has been severe damage to a nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture. In the past few days, this has largely overshadowed the human tragedy still occurring in towns devastated by the tsunami, and been blown largely out of proportion, to the point where people in the UNITED STATES are rushing out to buy potassium iodide pills, which only protects against a single possible complication due to radiation exposure. This is all absolutely ridiculous since I myself am out harms way here in Gifu. And yet there are some JETs in Gifu seriously contemplating returning to their home countries. I have talked with someone thinking of leaving, I have talked with other who, like me, don't even entertain the thought. This is where I live, I won't abandon it so quickly. I understand not every JET, or every foreigner, in Japan feels the same connection with this country as I do. Some are here for 1 year and had never had a passing interest in Japan before coming, so I realize for some it is easier to pack the bags and head home. One person I talked to kind of wanted to leave, but also mentioned not wanting to feel "deserter's guilt". Strong words, to be sure, but I am not staying due to guilt, I'm staying because I want to. With my lengthy exposure to their language and culture, and having lived here for 2.5 years (cumulative), Japan feels like my second home country, and I am not willing to abandon it at the first sign of trouble. For now, I call this place home, and I want to help. Leaving is the last thing on my mind. Japan has been kind to me, and provided me with experiences I couldn't have dreamed up if I had tried, the least I can do in return is show some solidarity.

I am not worried about my saftey, and am going about life normally. It does, however, seem to have gotten to my subconscious a bit, as I mistook the rumblings of a passing semi-truck as a potential earthquake. And I had a dream the other night where I was in the second story of a house, there was an earthquake, and the thing collapsed. That being said, I didn't wake up in a cold sweat, or afraid, or anything really. If anything, I am simply a bit more aware of the potential for earthquakes. I've thought multiple times, "okay, if an earthquake were to strike right now, where would I go/what action would I take?". But I really don't feel any fear or worry. If a big one comes my way, I deal with it when that happens. There has always been a potential for an earthquake here. The minute I entered Japan, there was a certain base risk. That risk hasn't elevated. Massive earthquakes, such as this one, are not connected to each other. There are sizable aftershocks, sure, but there is no greater likelihood of another massive one occurring.

I am more concerned about the story that isn't being reported as much back in the states, and that is the story of the hundreds of thousands of people in evacuation centers who are without sufficient water, food, fuel for heat, medicine, plumbing, gas, etc. This goes especially for the many elderly evacuees for whom the sub-freezing nights pose a threat to life. There have already been reports of people perishing at these centers, largely due to lack of supplies. Every day the news over here is reporting from these centers with people pleading for supplies. Some feel forgotten by their gov't, others are more concerned with the plight of evacuation centers around them than their own. In every case, though, the level of cooperation and selflessness is astonishing. Even when requesting supplies, it is very apparent in their language and mannerisms that their concern is for the group, and not themselves individually. The communal spirit, and the importance of group over self, which I have certainly found frustrating at times, truly shows its best side in how everyone has reacted to the disaster and pulled together to help each other. The word inspiring simply doesn't do it justice.
I have, in the only way I really can at the moment, helped out a bit, and that is through donations. The AJET group organized an event on facebook to pledge to give 10,000 yen to the relief effort. Over 4,000 of us took part to donate well over $400,000. Now I realize that most of you don't have nearly as strong a connection with Japan as I do, but I entreat you to please, please give to the relief effort, however large or small an amount. Google has made it extremely easy to do, and I'm sure there are many other websites and stores and other locations in America where you can donate, so please do. Japan needs your help.

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html