We arrived early Tues morning, dropped our things at the campsite and changed for a bus to Rikuzen Takata. The visitors centre allocated us a task of clearing rocks, stones, and concrete blocks from a comapany's site on a hill overlooking a valley that had been inundated. It wasn't quite clear how the task fitted into the context of the tsunami as the area was not hit by the waters. But working on the principle that the volunteer centre knows what it is doing, we spent the day shifting the things from rotting palettes to new palettes where they were forklifted into tidy rows - presumably for sale.
 |
| Concrete and bricks on new palettes - the ocean is behind the hill |
 |
| Part of the area we cleared... much more to be done though |
Wed and Thurs we were sent to clear the land of an older couple. Their home and vegetable patch had been swept away by the tsunami.
 |
| The entire field needed go be gone through with a pick. Mostly were were removing glass, chunks of concrete, and rocks. We also dug up a bowl, a tea cup, and a bucket in usable condition, as well as odd things like a bottle cleaner. |
 |
| We cleared the front half of the field in the background of weeds and debris. Another group did the far section. |
 |
| Tough times but the cosmos and sunflowers take an edge off the desolation. |
 |
| The next day when we passed, the man who lived here was out planting in the field - encouragement that what we were doing was useful. |
No comments:
Post a Comment