7月の日々より

2023年07月31日

2015年4月から福島の便りをお届けし始めて100回目（このホームページでは途中からお届けし始めました）、 8年と4ヶ月。福島、特に原発事故の影響の大きかった浜通りの様子はこの12年で変わってきました。始めの頃のボランテイア活動の内容、ボランテイアに来てくださる方達の活動、現地案内で見る風景、被災された方々の生活、、、、そして2019年の台風、豪雨の被害、続いてコロナ禍での3年間。
Since I started writing this newsletter, 8 years and 4 months have passed! Thank you for your support, reading every month what is happening in Minamisoma, especially around Hamadori which was so greatly affected by the radiation. There are changes over the past 12 years since the Triple Disaster of the East Japan Earthquake, the big tsunami and the TEPCO Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.
Volunteer activities that were needed right after the disaster, what we saw at the tour of the disaster areas, the evacuation life of the local people,.and again the damage caused by the Typhoon in 2019, and another big earthquake in 2022, and COVID-19….

We have lived through all these difficult times. Some people are back from their evacuation places, from their temporary housing, while others decided not to come back to their hometown. Some houses were demolished, while huge new buildings are built. All the black bags filled with contaminated soil have been moved to another place called Interim Storage Facility where nobody knows how long, until when to keep them. The main streets are beautifully restored, but one street off of the main streets there are still the debris and the damaged or destroyed houses and shops.

そして今・・・・

There are of course good things. The JR Joban line is now fully restored and the Super Hitachi that goes from Sendai to Shinagawa is in service. Some farmers started cultivating their farmland, growing rice and other vegetables.

少しずつですが、町の様子は変わってきています。震災前、原発事故の前のようにはなりません。
まだまだ、復興はしていません。心の痛みは変わりません。
The areas will never be the same as they were before the disaster. Restoration work is not fully done yet. The pain of the heart, the hard experiences, can never be healed.
We at the Caritas Minamisoma strongly feel the need to let people know of the actual current situation of the disaster areas.

今月の来訪者　Visitors this month

今月は鎌倉雪の下教会のグループ10名が現地視察に来られました。ホテルに1泊。
同じ時に足湯隊10名が久しぶりに来られました。原町、小高の復興団地のいくつかをまわられます。5-6年前とは団地の皆さんの表情、話題、服装等が明るくなっていると話されました。
In July we had two big groups visiting us. One was a group from the Kamakura Yukinoshita Catholic Church and the other was the Ashiyutai (foot massage group). Both of them had been waiting for the COVID 19 to calm down.
We were all very happy to see our old friends.