This is our first trip made during the annual rainy season.
We knew from forecast that it was going to rain during the weekend.
Maybe it will rain a little. Or maybe it’ll even stop.
Our faint hopes were spectacularly dashed. There was so much rain, in the morning an alert was announced by the weather bureau…
In places other than Minamisoma, it’s customary to stop the work even for a drop of rain.
But Minamisoma was severely lacking in volunteers, and the pace of work has been lagging far behind, so the work is not stopped on the account of rain.
The Volunteer Center that was located in the Haramachi Ward in Minamisoma had been relocated to the Odaka Ward in June.
Minamisoma Odaka Ward is within the 20 kilometer radius of the crippled nuclear power plant, and had been cordoned off from access until this past April.
Even now, access is only permitted during the day. It is forbidden to stay overnight in the area.
After putting our gears in order at the Minamisoma roadside service plaza, we drove towards the Volunteer Center.
As we went down the road, car traffic thinned out and the weeds grew thick.
Once we crossed the “20km to the Nuclear Power Plant” threshold, the scenery changed to something not seen anywhere else.
The tsunami pushed about 2 kilometers inland, up to and including the main road route 6.
Debris gathered in the initial stage were piled up in mounds here and there, not cleaned up.
Construction equipment, probably used in the initial stage, lay rusting all around us.
This was where people could not enter.
This was where the SDF and the police performed only the bare minimum search for survivors.
Laying in the same state for over a year, weeds taller than an adult have grown and spread.
In fields with bad drainage, suffering from land subsidence, rain water has collected in ponds as far as the eye can see…
Going farther down the road,
Cars left where the tsunami had dumped them.
Stores with no visible damage, closed up tightly.
The odd scene of repaired traffic signals, flashing dutifully at intersections where no one passes.
On this day, JILCA’s assignment was “Clean the drainage ditch”!!
We had been resigned to the possibility, and we were indeed going to work outside.
Most of the members on this tour were experienced labor-intensive volunteers, but few had experience working in the rain.
Stressing safety, we headed to the work site.
The work site was a drainage ditch filled with tsunami sludge.
The continuous rain overflowed the ditch and turned the road into a stream.
The spade could hardly penetrate the sludge. Every stroke hit obstruction. Plates. Roof tiles. Broken drainage ditch covers.
This was a formidable opponent.
Truly, formidable…
The veterans took the lead, and those who never did this kind of work watched and imitated.
At first there were some awkwardness, but teamwork gradually developed.
People to take the covers off the ditch. People to shovel the sludge onto the road.
People to carry off the sludge to a field in wheelbarrows. People to replace the drainage covers.
Thanks to the wonderful teamwork, we made more headway in one day than we had thought we could!!!
Working in the rain must have been really exhausting.
To all the participants, thank you very much for your great efforts!!!!!