“I saw the water rising, and then the huge wave. Then the sea and the land were covered with fire—the whole city was on fire.” The words aren’t out of Revelations. Masato Sakamoto, a resident of Kesennumma on Japan’s east coast, is describing the events of 11 March 2011. “While it was burning, at sunset, ...
The tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 was one of the most destructive and terrifying disasters of modern times. Over 15,000 people died; many more saw their homes swept away. Along Japan’s east coast, towering piles of debris stand near the cement foundations of whole neighbourhoods that are now gone. Caritas Japan immediately began ...
[slideshow] By Laura Sheahen in Kesennumma If you’d worked all your life to build up a business, only to see it swept away in minutes by a gargantuan wave, you’d be forgiven for wanting to give up. The aging residents of Japan’s east coast lost decades of labour when a tsunami struck in March 2011. ...
By Laura Sheahen in Kamaishi When you’re in a tsunami-hit zone, there are no ground floors. At my six-story hotel in Kamaishi, a town on the east coast of Japan, signs point the way to a staircase surrounded by what I assume are “under construction” signs. From the top of the stairs, the third stories ...
By Laura Sheahen in Sendai “The missing.” It’s been almost ten years to the day since I first heard this phrase uttered with the same quiet, charged intensity. The first time was in Manhattan, the week of September 11, 2001. Today I’m in the tsunami zone of eastern Japan. I’m with a group looking at ...
By Laura Sheahen Sakuma Kaname has taken the word “treehugger” to a whole new level. A high level. When a mammoth tsunami struck his town in Japan in March 2011, Sakuma “was on a hill near a bay,” he says. “I saw the water rising so fast—not just coming in, but rising up.” In minutes, ...
When you’re knocked down by a massive wave that robs you of everything you have, it doesn’t end there. The second wave is stronger. Tsunami survivors know this. On the east coast of Japan, people who lived through the country’s worst natural disaster in centuries talk about the strength of that wave. It lifted and ...
Caritas has launched a new emergency programme for Japan to provide earthquake survivors food and other aid items, counselling and help in getting back to work. Over 15,000 people died in the 9-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami which hit north-eastern Japan on 11 March this year. Millions of households were affected with over 370,000 houses ...
[slideshow] Cardinal Robert Sarah, Cor Unum President, has just returned from tsunami and earthquake ravaged Japan. Caritas Japan has provided 10,000 people with aid supported by Caritas members around the world. “Caritas Internationalis has done a great job coordinating all these resources,” he told Zenit. “This effort has enabled Caritas Japan in recent weeks to ...
By Caritas Japan staff Caritas Japan staff members and volunteers have been providing food and other aid to 10,000 survivors following the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. The earthquake was largest to have hit Japan on record and the tsunami caused destruction as far as 10 km inland. The quake caused a serious accident and ...