A group of volunteers from Tokyo spent the last week of March in Sendai, helping out at the emergency centre set up by the Sendai Diocese with the cooperation of Caritas Japan to coordinate humanitarian aid operations in Sendai.  Among them was Fr Yasunori Yamauchi, one of our newly ordained Jesuits in Japan.  He shares his reflection here.

After the earthquake off the coast of Miyagi, Japan, and the huge tsunami that followed, I volunteered to join the relief efforts. I stayed at the Catholic church in Ishinomaki to respond to the requests from the town’s volunteer center and those of parishioners. A major task was clearing the mud and mess from houses flooded by the wave. Unlike the 1995 earthquake which I experienced in Kobe, there was little damage from the shock waves but much from the sea. So much land was flooded, that even after several weeks, there is no prospect yet for reconstruction; a large number of bodies have yet to be recovered. One village I passed had not a single house standing among the sea of rubble – a sad sight, indeed. Where houses remain, much work is needed to make them habitable.

I remember the relief when, after struggling with the muck filling one house, we finally caught a glimpse of the floor. As we cleared the flotsam, we could see the hope return to the faces of the victims. Our efforts are tiny next to the massive destruction left by the awesome power of nature, yet our labor with these people is a vital experience. The only way to begin again is like this, one little step at a time.

As the destruction is stretched out over a strip of land about 500 km (300 miles) long, it will take years to recover. The problems at the nuclear power plant add to the plight of many. The poor people in this area will need our help for a long while to get back on their feet.

Yasunori (Non) Yamauchi, S.J.