Impressions of Iwate - Day 5

Today has been quite a day. It started off with a jolt just after 10am when a strong earthquake hit off the coast of Iwate. It was M7.1 and immediately the sirens went off and announcements started giving a tsunami warning and saying to people to move away from the coastal areas. That continued for some time, even after we had gone to the service at the local church. Occasionally the service stopped so we could listen to the announcements. In the end of the tday he tsunami amounted to hardly anything but it went to show how suddenly these things can happen - and almost 4 months to the day of the big quake. It was great to worship at Miyako Community Church and have fellowship with the folks there. We were given a warm welcome and it is so good that OMF can work in partnership with this church and Pastor Iwatsuka. The afternoon saw us head further south along the coast to visit some of the towns which had really taken the brunt of the tsunami. The scenes were quite incredible. As a team we reflected on our time after our evening meal. Some expressions people used - like a war zone. Like the aftermath of Hiroshima. Desolate. Sense of hopelessness. The buildings that still stood were gutted; some were badly charred due to fire; some still lay toppled over; some were just twisted wrecks. Mangled cars were everywhere. The roads through these towns have been cleared but it is like driving through a ghost town. You can't even imagine what it was like before. The town of Otsuchi lost over 60% of its population. The clear up seems hardly to have started in some places. The Ostuchi town office was swept away by the tsunami along with the town's mayor and other leaders. Later one of our team met an old lady from Otsuchi who survived by running up the mountain - she said simply that Otsuchi is finished. There were many poignant sights today but one that sticks in the mind is seeing a boat with the name 海友 - the characters for 'sea' and 'friend'. What an irony. The sea which today was so serene and beautiful - it is an idyllic coastline - is the same sea that had come crashing in with such force and swept away everything and everyone in its path. We stopped to pray for Otsuchi. We then moved further south and saw more of the same. Where do they begin? How do they rebuild? What about those who remain? Huge questions. All that we have done in our time here seems to have been but a drop in a bucket. Yet surely each drop counts. Each drop has meaning. And surely more and more need to be committed to come here and live with these people, serve these people and point them to the only way out of the utter devastation and hopelessness we saw today.