Another view of the connection between my building and the entrance building - the platform that I am standing on used to be on the dark line in the middle. The green mat is part of the temporary repairs that the admin staff has done to make it safe to get into the building.
This is the only water point in our complex. The water pressure here is direct from the city water system; everywhere else the pressure comes from the water being pumped to the roof. No electicity, no water! Almost everyone carried the water in 2-liter plastic bottles.
This is an apartment house that is next door, along the river. This concrete retaining wall broke when the land sunk from its original level (the dark line on the wall). According to yesterday's newspaper, much of the land within 10 or so kilometers of the ocean sank during the quake. There was a map of Kessennuma that show some of the city sank as much as 10 meters. The government is now making plans to use the debris that they are collecting to fill in at least so of the sunken areas.
This is the road on the far side of the above apartment house.
A bit farther away from home I found this crack in the road. Looking down into it, I could not see the bottom.
These will be the images that remain in the years to come: spring flowers and cracks.
We are still getting aftershocks, but they are getting weaker and deeper. Yesterday I only felt three quakes and they were all less than 2 on the Japanese shindo scale.
Last night just after seven, large red red letters appeared on the TV screen, warning that in a few moments there could be a very strong quake. While I was reading this, my wife's cell phone started screaming in a strident voice, also warning of a tremor. We sat there waiting, blood pressure and anxiety increasing. But, nothing happened. Finally the data appeared at the top of the TV screen - the quake had come and gone without any effect in our area. I am beginning to truly dislike the warning system. The signal that they monitor has only a loose connection to the vibrations that cause the damage. I do not know the actual figures but I would estimate that on about 30% of the warnings predict a quake that we can actually feel. There is a quake every time but about 70% of them do not effect the area where I am when I hear the warning. Anxiety and high blood pressure for nothing! Bah!
2 comments:
Some pictures look familiar - I live in Urayasu, probably the worst hit town around Tokyo Bay due to massive liquefaction following the 3/11 quake. With the difference that no one died here and electricity was available all the time (but no gas and no water).
I hope that the Tōhoku area will recover soon and that aftershocks will calm down eventually ... Good luck and thanks for the informative posts.
Thanks for the kind comments. The areas hit only by the quake are rapidly recovering. It is the tsunami hit areas, where most of the loss of life and physical damage took place, that are a particular and lingering problem.
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