Near midnight Friday, Rick and I boarded one of three buses traveling north to Higashi Matsushima. We were on a youth trip planned by leaders in our district (Rick is the district YM’s president). Higashi Matsushima is an area that was hit very hard by the earthquake and tsunami because it’s right on the coast.
Yellow Shirts= Mormon Helping Hands
Boarding the buses
Higashi Matsushima
Arrival
Getting Ready to Work
We divided up into 12 teams. Our team ended up being quite small, but we had hard workers. The assignment given to everyone at the volunteer center on Saturday was the same, to clean the sludge out of the gutters. The gutters were covered with concrete slabs that were pried out with a crowbar on the smaller narrower gutters. The wider deeper gutters require a jack to lift the heavy concrete slabs.
This was labor intensive work and yet the youth and adults were cheerful and grateful to be able to help.
At one point he was using two baggers
Rick tying off the bags
Knee deep in sludge
After the days work we changed, ate curry rice in the parking lot and got back on the bus for the 6 hour return trip. Before leaving the area, we went to see some of the devastation nearer the coast. It seems like it would have been impossible for anyone to have survived in the community we went to see. I was told that they only had a few minutes warning before the tsunami and the escape route was across a bridge to the other side of the river. There isn’t any higher ground nearby. Cars were everywhere, including the cemetery. Visiting here was a very emotional experience. I felt like I was an intruder. It will take a long time for this area to recover. It will be a long time before rice will grow in the fields again. Trees are dying because of the salt water. It was hard to control my tears and impossible to imagine the horror of that day.
How devastating! But, hopefully with helpers like you and your crew, the area will get back on it’s feet.
I am so glad you guys were able to help. Makes me proud to be your son!
Wow. No wonder you had a hard time controlling your tears. Those pictures make me tear up too. I can’t even think of a word to describe them.
Mom-Thanks for taking photos like you said you would. That is so not real…but then it was. Dad looks like he worked really hard the whole time in all his sludge gear! Way to go!
You guys are so good to go and help out with the devastation! I am sure it was very sobering being there. The pictures cannot do it justice for the entire scene of destruction but thank you for your post. So many people homeless, jobless, empty people of those that did survive! This was not a day for pansies from the looks of the hard work that was rendered. Good for your group, and all of those helping out the people of Japan!