It’s been over
3 years since the Tohoku Tsunami and Earthquake in Japan in 2011. The even has been life changing for me on many
different levels and March 11 remains an exceptional day. It’s a painful
memory, yet life goes on. And while the memories of the tragedy should not fade
away, people must also recover and move on.
The town that spent my childhood is just about going through
this change. There’s construction galore and new projects popping up. On the
other hand, few of the old buildings and destruction remains and often
contested whether they should be left as memorials or destroyed as it brings
back sad memories. As for the people, many are conflicted. Many are happy that
the reconstruction has been going way but have not yet sorted out their minds
on what happened on March 11th. Many suffer from PTSD and Depression
but few hardly try to show it on the outside. There’s still the scare in
Fukushima as well as other unclear points in the reconstruction projects that
are proposed.
Nevertheless, to me it’s my second home. It’s where I went
to school, spent time playing in the fields with friends, fought with my
cousins over buying ice cream, and went on long drives out to the mountains
with my relatives. Of course I see how much the city has changed but to me, the
images of the pre-disaster flash back at me. It’s a shame that the future
generation will be unable to see the same images that I see.
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| I used to climb this hill and oversea my neighborhood. Now it's all barren |
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| Barracks and barracks of temporary housing. 300,000 people nationwide still live in these conditions |
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| Daily life in the barracks |
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| Auntie's 10 sq meter tiny housing |
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| Construction everywhere (btw this used to be downtown) |
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| See the blue area on top of this building? The water came up to here. My cousin's body was found nearby as well |
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| This area used to be downtown |
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| Auntie's house |
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| Memorial building |
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| Card reads: "Dear Takata high school swimming tea and coach, How are you? It's been 3 years 2 months since you've all been gone. And today's Mother's Day, if you were alive would you have bought carnations? Well... of course not. I don't need any carnations, but could you just come home to me? Not as a 20 year old you but the 17 year old you that you were that day" | |
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| Built a multi-million pump to layer the ground several meters higher. The plan is to rebuild the city on higher ground. |
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| Different auntie's 1 bedroom apartment (since she's living with my uncle) |
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| Thankfully all the furniture and appliances were donated. Grateful for everyone's help. |
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