Japan Disaster Relief Donations
the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Information and Assistance group.
The extraordinary courage of ordinary men in a bad place. It is a tale as old as mankind itself, and it always pulls at our heartstrings, for we all know that all too often the tale will end tragically, and when it is coupled with the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, there can be little doubt that tragedy would be the price of nobility for dozens of beat cops and municipal bureaucrats who had the grave misfortune to be on duty when the largest earthquake in recorded history struck their homeland. Some were not even on duty, but felt the call of duty anyway. Most of them paid with their lives for answering that call. Some lived to tell the tale. All of them deserve our respect and gratitude.
I have already written of how Japanese people, their strengths notwithstanding, can be remarkably obtuse when it comes to recognizing the courage and sacrifice of others. It says something both good and bad about their culture. When one's duty calls for it, they simply expect one to do it. I don't think that's quite fair, but at the same time, most of them take it for granted that they will be held to that same high standard. And when push comes to shove, they usually deliver, even while they see nothing extraordinary in the performance of their duties. Well, in marked contrast to the indifference, if not hostility that has met the efforts of the "Fukushima Fifty" the policemen of Tohoku, Japan are, in many cases posthumously, receiving their due for their extraordinary courage in performing ordinary duties.
I believe that we would do well to honor them as well.
Japanese cops are, on the whole, an authoritarian lot serving an authoritarian system.
But they are also just cops, that is to say men and women who have pledged to serve their communities come hell or high water, or in this case, both.
And when the towns they served were in trouble, they stayed at their posts and did everything within their power to for the people they had sworn to protect until the surging black waves of the unholy monster tsunami swallowed them up. Some residents remember their strong, steady voices amplified by their hand-held megaphones as they repeatedly urged people to move to the high ground in an orderly fashion. They steadfastly repeated their simple message, their voices being the only sound other than the deep rumbling roar of the oncoming waters and the ubiquitous sirens. And then, in mid-sentence, they fell silent, and there was nothing but the angry, frothing, forward surging waters of the killer waves. Many of the escaping residents became aware for the first time of the value of that awkward, but somehow bossy boy in uniform that had nodded stiffly to them as they had gone about their daily lives in better times at the very moment that he left them behind forever. Others for the first time appreciated that there was more than just a bit of love for his fellow man behind the gruff, unfriendly exterior of that old guy down at the little police kiosk.
There are countless tales of people who barely made it out alive, the first surges of the wave already lapping at their ankles, as they came to corners and crossroads? Which way led to a navigable path to the high ground or a tall building? Which way would cut them off from any hope of escape? In many cases we have heard the tales of those lucky enough to find their way out. In others, we heard of the horror of the onlookers, who from the high ground watched their neighbors make the wrong choice.
In some of those towns, they made the right one because when they came to the corner there was a man in uniform with a megaphone, urging all the residents on at the maximum speed, refusing to abandon their posts long after they must have known they were putting themselves at risk. Some of them must have known that they were going to their deaths, but they traded their lives for those of others in the towns they served.
They did their duty and they made a difference.
Sasaki Atsushi of Ofunato was only 23 and he was off duty when the quake first struck. His first impulse was to report to the local kiosk and offer his services for he knew his people needed him. Ofunato was the location so far thought to have suffered the worse inundation. In places the waves topped out at a staggering 23 meters (75 feet). Almost anyone remaining on the low ground didn't have a chance.
Ofunato, Japan March 11, 2011
As this monster descended on his town, Sasaki stood his ground and sacrificed his life to so that others might find their way out.
In Iwanuma, Assistant Inspector Hayasaka Hidefumi set off with a colleague in the direction of the oncoming wave shortly after the quake. The last person who saw him alive saw him getting back in his car. Looking out from the vehicle, Inspector Hayasaka signaled with his hands. He was going toward the shore. Apparently, he thought there was stilll some time to do some good. He was later found dead in a squad car, with no trace of his colleague who is missing and presumed dead.
In addition, the following police officers are known to have lost their lives in the line of duty during the disasters:
Tohoku Police Academy Superintendent Hiraizumi Norihiko
Ofunato Police Assistant Inspector Kobayshi Arata
Kamaishi Police Assistant Inspector Yamauchi Takuya
Kesennuma Police Sergeant Senda Koji
In addition to these know fatalities there are at least 27 others whose whereabouts is unknown. Most are presumed dead and likely more will follow.
Ordinary civil servants also saved the lives of many. In the town of Iwanuma, along the coast the bureaucrats at the town hall weathered the quake and knew that they were safe from the Tsunami, being well away from the shore and in a modern building constructed of reinforced concrete.
The problem was that hundreds of people in the town they served were close to the shore and evacuation had not begun. They were essentially sitting ducks.
Somebody was going to have to go warn them. They asked for volunteers. Four men came forward and were dispatched in two cars. Putting themselves in harm's way, they managed to raise the alarm and get the process of evacuation started. Dozens, if not hundreds of people made it to safety because of the courageous actions of these young men.
All of them were hit by the waves.
Two survived. After heading to the shore areas, they roused people and raised the alarm. Trying to make everyone aware of the need to get out and to do it ASAP. They stayed, urging the citizens of their town to get to high ground until the wave was almost upon them. Then they sped away as fast as they could. The wave, they saw, was gaining on them, rising behind them in the rear view mirror. Then it washed over them and the next thing they knew, they were being carried along with the rising tide, bobbing up and down in the waters among the various wreckage the wave carried before it.
After what must have seemed an eternity, the wave finally began to recede and, rather than dragging them back to sea and under water, it deposited them on dry ground. They were among the lucky ones, the survivors of whom there were now quite a few more because of the risks they took.
The other two were not so lucky. One is still missing and the body of the other, 31-year old Ohta Yuichi, has been recovered from the aftermath. Ohta did not have to go, but hed did. His younger brother, devastated and bereaved, was nevertheless, not surprised. "For as long as I can remember, he's had a very strong sense of justice. He ignored danger and persevered in doing what is right to the very end."
Mr. Ohta died as he lived, and now more people are alive because of it.
These police men and bureaucrats truly lived up to the name of public servant and in doing so set an example of heroism and selflessness that should be a model to us all.
Meanwhile, people are dying for want of basic provisions and care. One hospital within the area affected by the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant had to evacuate and could find no other hospital to take its patients. They were moved to one of the make-shift shelters in a school gymnasium. Two of them died in transit and twelve more died in the awful conditions of the shelter.
"We feel very helpless and very sorry for them,"Inamura [Chuei, a Fukushima municipal official] said. "The condition at the gymnasium was horrible. No running water, no medicine and very, very little food. We simply did not have the means to provide good care."
Many of the regions hardest hit are in rural areas that are home to an aging population as many of the younger people from these areas have left for the big cities. Many older people were consumed by the tsunami simply because they could not move fast enough to escape the surging waters. Autopsies done on many of the victims reveals that drowning was the most common cause of death and that a large percentage of victims were found dressed for the cold and with emergency kits on their persons. Some, like the Kannos of Rikuzentakata, remained calm and followed the emergency procedures. When the quake ended, they left their houses and began moving to high ground. But the wave came too soon, and they haven't been seen since.
Finally, in a piece of uplifting news, a 22-year old woman has been reunited with her parents after more than a week. When the tsunami hit Abe Yumi was working at a hospital in Ishinomaki and was swept away by the waves. After drifting at sea for nearly twenty hours she washed ashore near the house of Sato Kazuyuki. Sato, whose house in on high ground, was sheltering a number of other refugees and took Abe as well. When she was found, she was almost too weak to stand, but the others at the house nursed her back to health. After the roads were cleared, she and Sato went to try to find her parents. When she got to where her house had been, she was greeted with the same horrific sight that so many others have seen in this disaster: nothing but debris. The house was gone. Dejected, she returned with Sato to his house only to find her parents waiting for her. Apparently the rumor mill had been in action for the week she was in convalescence. The family, having lost everything but each other, were overjoyed to find that they still had that.
Abe Yumi is reunited with her mother after a harrowing ordeal (Asahi Shimbun)
Japan Disaster Relief Donations
Also please check out the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Information and Assistance group.
Also please note that Kossack pvmuse is in touch with the people at ShelterBox and has very generously offered to match donations given by the people in the DailyKos Community for up to $500. Journeygirl and I have already pledged $100. We need people to pledge to get us up to the $500 mark. If you can spare anything, even five or ten dollars, no amount is too small. Please give all that you can.
These people need our help.
We can do some real good here.
N.B.: Many of the events and stories from above are taken from Japanese sources, as such the names of the people are derived from the Chinese characters for their names. Many of these characters have multiple readings, and one often does not know how the person reads their characters unless it is written in phonetic script somewhere else. As such, many of the names (especially the given names) above are taken from the most common reading of the names, but they may be incorrect.