The towns all up and down the coast of Iwate are in varying degrees of ruin. The tsunami hit all of them. There was notice, of course. Once the earthquake hit a tsunami warning was issued and people had about 20 minutes to run/drive to higher ground. Why then was there still so much loss of life? It's simple. Not everyone had access to a car. It's hard to run carrying small children. If you're elderly, it's a challenge to get up and about, much less outrun a wave.
The population in the towns near here all average about 60. The younger generation has moved away, mostly into larger cities and mostly for work. Why didn't these towns have an evacuation plan? They did. All of them. All of the towns on the eastern coastline (at least in Iwate Prefecture) depended upon each other for rescue, support, assistance and relief. In hindsight, if a giant tsunami hits a COAST and not just a town or two then any good evacuation plan ends up being useless. Immediate rescue efforts using fire and police equipment from other towns is not an option any more when each town has to fight to find their own people. A side note, by the way. When driving through Rikuzentakata yesterday to see the damage first hand, we drove past a police and fire station. The police station was gutted. The fire station was also severely damaged.
One of the topics of discussion yesterday among the relief organization members was whether or not and how to expand the disaster relief to the other towns that were also wiped out. The two main towns around here with the most damage (Rikuzentakata and Ohfunato) are their current focal points. This is not to say the other towns don't need help.
If anyone wants to volunteer there's no shortage or work to do!
No comments:
Post a Comment