Saturday, July 23, 2011

Devestation - Fishing Villages - July '11


Isn't this the most poignant picture? The fishermen in this village painted the word HELP and the kanji characters for help on the parking lot asphalt. There was a woman in labor who needed to be lifted by helicopter to a hospital.



We talked to the father of the baby boy and he said that mother and baby were doing fine. She was airlifted to a hospital but didn't give birth immediately. Can you imagine how frightening this must have been?

The little fishing villages are set around a peninsula in the beautiful scenery with mountains very close to the shore. They built homes on the flat land by the water.

A crack from the earthquake.

Here are the fishermen accepting the 6 boxes of oranges that we brought to them. They have no means of getting fresh fruits and vegetables. They were delighted.

The man with the black hair is the father of the "tsunami baby".

Our van was loaded! 8 people and their luggage and the sewing machine that Sister Donahoe bought in the store where we stopped to buy the oranges!

Getting 6 boxes of oranges in was quite a feat - and we had things under our feet for a while!

Looking out at the landscape - what a mess! And the cars and lots of the metal things have been removed!


The houses that are left are uninhabitable for the most part unless they can live on the 2nd story.

Standing on a foundation.





These piles are not just on the surface, they are deep.



Look at the buckling of the cement.

See the frying pan and broken dishes. People's possessions everywhere!

A sewing machine that will never sew again. I wonder who it belonged to.



This rock was put in place after a much earlier tsunami warning people not to build after this point. Unfortunately, the warning was not heeded.

Metal was twisted like pipe cleaners.


Wondering who these shoes belonged to and hoping that they are ok.



Many of the homes will never be rebuilt because the land will be condemned.


And a pair of skis that stayed together.

These pictures will give a glimpse of what we saw. It is sad to think of the future for many of the people whose lives were so disrupted. Many are still in evacuation centers but temporary housing was going up in several places. This was painted on one of the huge ships and says "Gambatte" meaning "Hang in there"! It has become a catch phrase for the area.

Unbelievable - Tokohu Pictures July '11

A tsunami is so powerful. I have seen the pictures on TV but when you see it in person, it just takes your breath away. It is so sad. A lot of debris had been cleared. We were able to drive down to see where the big ships had been pushed up onto the land.





Our first sight of the iconic ships.

It was surreal.

These were not just little boats - they were huge ships.
















The ship sliced through the seawall just like it was butter.

Look how huge they are!


And here is Elder Grames cleaning off my shoes after having gone through the sludge.



More on our incredible trip tomorrow!







Friday, July 15, 2011

July 16th '11

Dad's new Korean tie!
The construction that is going on just down the street (alley). They are taking down a whole block - piece by piece! Everything is done so carefully - windows are taken out one by one then boarded up while they do another step in the demolition. It is so different here!

They even have this decibel meter on the fence so you can see how much noise they are making.

Everything is covered with tarps so that nothing can fall and hurt a passerby.

I am unsure what the green cross means unless there is a hospital going in.

As I took these pictures, the guards were bowing to me! Only in Japan!


They work long hours in the heat.

I wonder where they take all the debris.

This is taken through the tarp but you can see the piles of wood, etc. and it is piled as neatly as they can!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

July 11 ' 11

We were invited to Kimhae Jun and Luke Yoo's home for a Korean meal. They were so sweet to invite the senior missionaries over. It took a lot of preparation! Everything was so beautifully arranged also. Here it is all laid out!

Tying another one of my quilts made from old Relief Society napkins!


Lauryn finished this pillow! She loves to sew and it has been fun to teach her.

Look at this hamburger! We went out to eat at a Burger Mania spot for our Family Home Evening. We did it in honor of the 4th of July - an all -American meal!


Yum!

The last meal with the Pinckneys - we will miss them as they return home this week.



They certainly weren't all-American prices.

Here we are with Sister Hooker who has become very dear to us. She was back in the area for a couple of days waiting for a new "green bean" from the States to arrive. She will be a trainer for her last 6 weeks.

This is the group that came to dinner.

Gibsons and the "threesome".

This is Matt Hall who is working on a Master's at Utah State. We met him sitting by the temple. He was disappointed that the temple is on summer break. He was on a layover on his way to China.
I brought him home for lunch and then walked him up to meet the bus to the airport. On the way, we saw this sign. His name is Matt Hall so this was almost his name!

He was pretty brave to come off for such an adventure on his own! Hope he has a great trip.