In the above footage, the car is in Sendai area and about 3km from the sea. It is amazing how fast the water came in and floated the car. As the driver was shooting the footage, he was wondering when would be a good time to leave the car. He finally did it and managed to swim to safety. He is interviewed in the footage. Never mind if you can't understand the Japanese commentary, just watch it for the amazing speed of the water.
In other earthquake news, Tomo and I have been wanting to go the the stricken-areas out of curiosity and also to help. There is a long weekend coming up in July and the Singapore embassy is organising a group of volunteers to head there. Because of our kids, we both can't go. Probably only Tomo will go. I have thought about bringing the kids there. Good for them to see what suffering is like. But they will probably just get in the way of the volunteers and also health/sanitation conditions there are quite a concern these days. So best they stay home. Apparently, now that the cold weather is over, that stricken-area is stinking really badly from the rotten fish that were washed inland from the sea as well as from the fishing industry's warehouses that were smashed by the waves. Flies everywhere.
Although I do not personally know of any volunteer who got injured whilst helping, I did read in news reports that bones have been broken and nails stepped on. So it can be quite hazardous for the volunteers too.
A friend did go up during Golden Week to give legal advice. Due to the condition of the accommodation (or lack of it) around the stricken-area, he had to stay about 2 hours away. The 3 most common questions, in order, concerned: (i) debt (loans/mortgages etc), (ii) inheritance and (iii) what the government is doing to help. As for mortgages, if I recall correctly, there is an amnesty/grace period of 6 months. Obviously, this is not enough given the circumstances. Not sure what is being planned when this period expires.
It is now a little more than 3 months since the earthquake/tsunami. Although many Japanese have been complaining that the debris is still not completely cleared, I think great progress has been made and it is certainly an achievement given the physical scale of the disaster. The other problem hindering the clean up is the lack of space to dump the debris. This website has got great pictures showing the current stated of the disaster area, with some before and after pics. Do check it out.
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