The human face of the tsunami

In March this year, world attention was focused on Japan. The tsunami that took some 20,000 lives in the north-east of Japan and destroyed many towns reminded us how fragile our environment is. Release of radiation from the nuclear reactors at Fukushima emphasised human capacity to destroy the environment.

The Jesuits in Japan had no houses, no communities in the affected areas. But they helped to channel aid to people made homeless. Some young Jesuits, too, volunteered to help communities devastated by the tsunami. One of them was Fr Non Yamauchi. He says: ‘After the earthquake off the coast of Miyagi, Japan, and the huge tsunami that followed, I volunteered to join the relief efforts. I stayed at the Catholic Church in Ishinomaki to respond to the requests from the town’s volunteer centre and those of parishioners. A major task was clearing the mud and mess from houses flooded by the wave.’

He noticed the difference between the effects of this earthquake and the one that devastated Kobe in 1995: ‘This time, there was little damage from the shock waves but much from the sea. So much land was flooded, that even after several weeks, there is no prospect yet for reconstruction; a large number of bodies have yet to be recovered. One village I passed had not a single house standing among the sea of rubble – a sad sight, indeed.’

Volunteer response

Edward ‘Jody’ Magtoto, a Filipino scholastic, volunteered to join the relief effort. He says, ‘I found myself among this group of five men and seven women who responded to the call to help in the Caritas Japan relief efforts. We did not know each other prior to this trip and had met only once for an orientation meeting.Bony James, an Indian Jesuit scholastic, and I were probably the only Christians in this group.’

The group worked in the northern coast town of Kamaishi. Jody describes vividly what awaited them: ‘Kamaishi is the town where a huge ship rammed into the tsunami wall. The sidewalks were still full of debris—everything from old toys to the remains of a baby shark. The debris was at times several metres deep, and we had to dig through the wreckage with a shovel or our hands in order to move the rubble to a nearby lot.’

The blessing of languages

Jody had been initially a little hesitant to volunteer because he did not speak Japanese fluently. But he found on one occasion that his nationality was a gift. It helped him to appreciate the human face of the tsunami. He explains, ‘One day, we worked on the house of an eighty-year old woman. Hanging on to the ledge of the house, we tried to empty the house of debris through a window so that we could gain access to the door and be able to open it from the inside. After a few hours, we took a break and I was able to have a chat with the woman. When she found out I was Filipino, her facial expression changed. I could not completely understand what she was saying, but I felt her gratitude. She even gave us Philippine Cavendish bananas for a snack!’

As time went on, Jodi found creative ways of relating to the people whom he served. He says, ‘I arranged the food donations on display shelves as one would do in a supermarket, earning me the nickname “Mitsukoshi”, a popular department store chain in Japan. It was such a joy when I saw a young girl of around five years of age pointing to a candy display I had strategically placed on a low shelf. She asked her mother for permission to take some sweets and placed them in their bag.’

Rebuilding the future

Non recognised that the scale of the disaster was so great that the people will need support for a long time. He explains, ‘As the destruction is stretched out over a strip of land about 500 km (300 miles) long, it will take years to recover. The problems at the nuclear power plant add to the plight of many. The poor people in this area will need our help for a long while to get back on their feet.’

Jodi was pleased to have seen the first steps toward recovery. He recalled a story his father told about his grandfather: ‘My father had once told me that after a typhoon he, as a child, would anticipate hearing the sound of a broom’s bristles brushing against the wet pavement. He said that he always associates the sound with hope. It is a sound that tells him that people have begun to pick up the pieces after devastation. It tells him that people have decided to hope again and move on.’

The tsunami that struck Japan had a national and international face. It affected the economy of the nation and reminded the world of the dangers of nuclear power. These are issues that Jesuits will reflect on because they affect people’s lives. But the tsunami also had a human face that called out for compassionate action. Volunteers like Jody and Non reveal that human face.