Earthquake Diary 42

 These are still pictures that I took on the way back from shopping at the supermarket way to the west of our apartment. Both my wife and I needed to use the toilet when we got back to Izumi Chuo, so we went into the ward office. In the men's room I found that part of the wall had fallen during the quake, but it was completely cleaned up, not repaired but cleaned.

 Heading for home we started down Suisen Dori, the pedestrian way, that goes about half way home. We had barely entered when we saw this large work crew. Both my wife and commented on how good it was that they were getting repairs underway so quickly. Then as we got closer, we both burst out laughing.

 They were not repairing anything. They were taking out part of the walkway and putting in a new garden.

We figured that the city must have scheduled the work and it was just being done on because it was on the list for today.

 This is the new bridge near my apartment. I do not understand the stress system in the load bearing part of the bridge but these blocks obvious received a lot of stress.

 This was taken near the foundation of the next bridge to the west. The crack was about the width of my palm and I could not see the bottom of it.

 On Friday, two days later, I again went to the supermarket and was able to buy pork. The first meat we had found of sale since the quake. This is another shopping center, Caraway, that is next to where we used to live. It is also close to our doctor and has a good bread shop and a branch of our bank, so stop there sometimes. The top section of the wall has fallen and many of the large glass plates that form the first floor walls have broken. I suspect that it will be open again soon, except for a supermarket. The supermarket here closed long before the quake.

This is a view out one of my windows. A workman from the highway department is fixing the mirrors that allow drivers exiting our parking lot to see if there are any cars coming.

I wonder whether they are checking all of the mirrors in the city or are just fixing those that people call in about. I have no way of finding out.

I heard that the insurance companies are going to treat missing people as dead for insurance purposes. This means that payment can come quickly, rather than waiting the normally required length of time in case the person shows up again. I think this is an example of the unique Japanese reaction to the disaster. There seems to be very few people trying to make extra money, rather people are cooperating and keeping prices as low as possible. I have heard some rumors about bad things happening in other places but I have seen absolutely no evidence that these are anything more than rumors.

Normality is returning. The high school baseball tournament has started in Osaka, Although the Miyagi team lost, they were treated as heroes when they returned.