Earthquake Diary 93

 This large crack in the road, one I have shown before, has been repaired. However, yesterday I pass here again and saw that the repaired sections are sinking into the cracks. New repairs will be necessary soon.

 This will give you an idea of how big the cracks are and how much energy it took to make them.

 This is the temporary sewerage purification site. In the front on the left some sort of machine is visible. It has a large pipe so it is likely to be a pump.

 When I showed this store before only the uppermost window was broken and covered with a blue tarp. Now two windows on the first floor are covered, having been broken during the aftershocks.

 This small factory was seriously damaged. Repairs are only now beginning. I have been told by several people in positions to know that most companies are making lists based on the type of damage, so that they can apply their assets to the most damaged sites first. Blue tarp and tape is the solution for the less damaged locations.

Everywhere you look there are small work crews attacking the destruction and getting things back to something resembling normal.

Speaking of normal, today's newspaper was back to the normal 26 pages and it contained more advertizing insets than we have seen since before the earthquake. The paper still has a small box on the first page apologizing for the inability to deliver to some of the most damaged areas. Also on the first page, there was an article telling about the local government's new 10 year plan to repair the damage to both the system and to physical structures.

Today I will be having lunch with the teacher and other students from my art class. We are going to decide what to do about continuing the classes. The location where we used to have classes is so badly damaged that the school, the NHK Bunka Center, has decided to close and move classes to their building downtown. However, they will not open our class again until July, but we want to continue. Today's meeting is to decide if and where we can meet until July.