Volunteer Activity in Tohoku Part 1

Drastic experiences sometimes make people change their way of thinking, that can possibly be a point of enlightenment in their life. I never thought that I would face such a realization through a volunteer activity. After the devastating earthquake, I finally got the opportunity to go to Sendai and help the people who were affected.

I joined the volunteer activity which was organized by our company to help the casualties of  the destructive earthquake and catastrophic tsunami in the Tohoku area.

 We went to Sendai by bus. Normally there used to be two lanes on the express way in order to reach Sendai in three and a half to four hours. But they were sporadically damaged due to the massive tremor. We needed to slow down and tracked on a single lane, consequently it took us about five hours to get there.

When we arrived in what was known the City of trees, I witnessed that the center of the city has regained its normal function. The life there has resumed to its normal state. However, as we got closer to the costal area ,we encountered severely disruptive scenery. Houses were ruined, cars were wrecked upside down

and roadside fences were bent. 

I was wondering why there still remained damaged cars and ruined houses. Accodring to my colleague, if the owner of the cars or houses requested to clean them up, local officals could remove them. But if the owner might be still missing or dead, they couldn't get rid of the debris at all.