Currently reporting from the road back to Niigata.
It has been a long day of mostly driving. The stamina of the crew is inspiring and I am lucky to be sharing this experience.
Today we managed to leave late after various dramas, so despite my good efforts to get up early, which I did, they hadn't been necessary.
We hit the road, again, and again and again. It was a long road. We drove from the countryside plains of Niigata with it's snowy mountains and endless rice fields, to, courtesy of many long, dark tunnels, the clearer area of Fukushima, where mountains were only visible in yonder distance.
Throughout the day, it was our mission to constantly be on the look out for animals, even if we were just making a pit stop at a conbeeny, we could still use the opportunity to talk with locals and let them know about our work.
A photographer told us how, yesterday, he went into 'the zone' and there are so many dogs and cats just roaming around all by themselves.
((the zone, in case you are not aware is the area within 10 to 30 km of the nuclear plant. Only 10pm is mandatory and the rest, voluntary, but owners of pets left thinking they could return within a few days. Sadly, this is not so.))
We also met a lovely couple who had the most beautiful Labrador. We stopped and had a chat. She told us of a dog she had seen dead just up the road and took our details in case she found any that needed rescuing. It is this word of mouth that works well and it is amazing to see the support for the organisation.
We saw the coastline that had been affected from Soma, Fukushima, where it began, up as far as Yamamoto in south Miyagi. The destruction really is unreal. What we see on the news is awful, yet, seeing it in real life, still does not help comprehend what happened here. We had to swerve to dodge a big boat that had been forced form the bay over to the opposite side of the road. Gradually, the more houses we passed, the bigger the trail of destruction became.
Three weeks on, and people have started to move the debris and pile it up outside their houses. Everything on the first level was a destroyed. I watched as a family removed everything from their fish shop, from dead fish and crabs, to shop fittings and possessions, all saturated and muddy, nothing could be salvaged.
After ten minutes or so, north from Soma, the destruction spread even further inland. Very little remained of what was once a quiet little town on the coast.
Cars were smashed, wrangled and there were many scattered in the distant rice fields, which were still damp and muddy. The first floors of most houses were obliterated and those houses that were still standing with both floors, had windows smashed and curtains blowing in the wind to remind us of a family who once dwelled there, closing them to keep quiet and warm indoors. All that remained of other houses was the second floor alone. The tsunami came and swept away the base of the house leaving just the upper level. This was all that sat in the rice field.
The view was the same the whole road through, destruction, piles of debris, damaged cars, one was wrapped around a lamp post. But, the worst and saddest thing I saw today, was a little pink baby jump suit amongst the pile of debris outside a house where a wall was missing and the bathroom was on show.
As we drove along, we scoured the roads and debris for nay signs of canine of feline life. Of course, there was none. Not here, anyway. The coast was within eyesight and I could see blue calm waters, but before that lay mud, fallen trees and mess, all a sign that the water was, 3 weeks ago, was anything but calm.
We did hear dogs barking and feared that they may have been abandoned. We drove into the house and met the owners coming back from their food shopping trip. We explained to them our purpose. We offered them food, which they accepted graciously as it is scarce on these areas.
We have been o the road for 12 hours and we are not yet home. Maybe we have another hour or two on this windy, wet and, save for one truck ahead, empty road back to Niigata.
Big thanks go to
www.jears.org working with www.kinshipcircle.org (from America). they are working ever so hard to save all these animals and, when possible, reunite them with their owners.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
It has been a long day of mostly driving. The stamina of the crew is inspiring and I am lucky to be sharing this experience.
Today we managed to leave late after various dramas, so despite my good efforts to get up early, which I did, they hadn't been necessary.
We hit the road, again, and again and again. It was a long road. We drove from the countryside plains of Niigata with it's snowy mountains and endless rice fields, to, courtesy of many long, dark tunnels, the clearer area of Fukushima, where mountains were only visible in yonder distance.
Throughout the day, it was our mission to constantly be on the look out for animals, even if we were just making a pit stop at a conbeeny, we could still use the opportunity to talk with locals and let them know about our work.
A photographer told us how, yesterday, he went into 'the zone' and there are so many dogs and cats just roaming around all by themselves.
((the zone, in case you are not aware is the area within 10 to 30 km of the nuclear plant. Only 10pm is mandatory and the rest, voluntary, but owners of pets left thinking they could return within a few days. Sadly, this is not so.))
We also met a lovely couple who had the most beautiful Labrador. We stopped and had a chat. She told us of a dog she had seen dead just up the road and took our details in case she found any that needed rescuing. It is this word of mouth that works well and it is amazing to see the support for the organisation.
We saw the coastline that had been affected from Soma, Fukushima, where it began, up as far as Yamamoto in south Miyagi. The destruction really is unreal. What we see on the news is awful, yet, seeing it in real life, still does not help comprehend what happened here. We had to swerve to dodge a big boat that had been forced form the bay over to the opposite side of the road. Gradually, the more houses we passed, the bigger the trail of destruction became.
Three weeks on, and people have started to move the debris and pile it up outside their houses. Everything on the first level was a destroyed. I watched as a family removed everything from their fish shop, from dead fish and crabs, to shop fittings and possessions, all saturated and muddy, nothing could be salvaged.
After ten minutes or so, north from Soma, the destruction spread even further inland. Very little remained of what was once a quiet little town on the coast.
Cars were smashed, wrangled and there were many scattered in the distant rice fields, which were still damp and muddy. The first floors of most houses were obliterated and those houses that were still standing with both floors, had windows smashed and curtains blowing in the wind to remind us of a family who once dwelled there, closing them to keep quiet and warm indoors. All that remained of other houses was the second floor alone. The tsunami came and swept away the base of the house leaving just the upper level. This was all that sat in the rice field.
The view was the same the whole road through, destruction, piles of debris, damaged cars, one was wrapped around a lamp post. But, the worst and saddest thing I saw today, was a little pink baby jump suit amongst the pile of debris outside a house where a wall was missing and the bathroom was on show.
As we drove along, we scoured the roads and debris for nay signs of canine of feline life. Of course, there was none. Not here, anyway. The coast was within eyesight and I could see blue calm waters, but before that lay mud, fallen trees and mess, all a sign that the water was, 3 weeks ago, was anything but calm.
We did hear dogs barking and feared that they may have been abandoned. We drove into the house and met the owners coming back from their food shopping trip. We explained to them our purpose. We offered them food, which they accepted graciously as it is scarce on these areas.
We have been o the road for 12 hours and we are not yet home. Maybe we have another hour or two on this windy, wet and, save for one truck ahead, empty road back to Niigata.
Big thanks go to
www.jears.org working with www.kinshipcircle.org (from America). they are working ever so hard to save all these animals and, when possible, reunite them with their owners.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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