Friday 18th March 2011
One week. That's all. But it seems like the longest week in history.
How can just a few minutes change the lives of so many people, in some cases forever?
It's shocking, devastating and deeply upsetting. I hate feeling so helpless. I want to go out and help, but I can't.
Instead, I have to keep home life as normal as possible, which is a difficult task because life is anything but normal. Tim is working all hours and will be working this weekend too. We have our visitor here. There is no school. Nothing is normal.
My previous comments about Rhiannon taking it all very well were possibly premature and she now seems to be showing completely understandable symptoms of post-traumatic stress. And I have no idea how to help her. Any slight noise or aftershock is affecting her quite badly. She will not sleep, just in case we have another earthquake like last week. I can't distract her with play dates as almost everyone has left the country. I can't take her anywhere as fuel is rationed and we just don't know what is open and what isn't.
I have my suspicions which are shared by the few other mums who have stayed, that the school will not open again before the Easter Holidays, which is when we leave for our new country. It appears a good number of the teachers have also left the country. If this is the case, then Rhiannon won't be able to say goodbye to her classmates and I think this will make her stress a lot worse.
So, today has not been a good day.
I cannot let my emotions out as I am the strong one who has to keep everyone together. A traumatised daughter and dog, an exhausted husband and a slightly shell-shocked visitor. I have felt in turns angry and desperately sad. Anger is directed to various idiots who keep telling me what to do; leave / don't leave; go out / stay in; various media requests looking for horrible sensational stories and who will make them up anyway regardless of what is said; various random online comments saying things like "this was god's will", "god's revenge for blah blah blah" and other such ridiculous and inflammatory dogma. I've had to stay away from the computer quite a lot today in order to keep my sanity.
Sadness comes from hearing stories about people dying of hypothermia in the freezing shelters; the fact that rescuers can't actually find the shelters as all the records were washed away in the tsunami. No centralised data was kept anywhere – each area kept its own data and that's all been washed away.
Clips and tales of lost and brave animals nearly reduce me to tears. And I have heard terrible rumours (as yet unfounded) that many of the expats that left have abandoned their so-called beloved pets.
I say nearly reduced me to tears because I cannot lose it. Not yet. I have to remain strong for my family. And yes, I realise this will all come back on me in due course – probably a few weeks after we've moved to Germany.
Oh, and this week also included the 7th anniversary of my beloved Dad's death.
OK. Enough navel gazing. Onto other fairly random, but still earthquake related, stuff.
I was honoured today to receive an email from the British Library who wants to add Japanory to their web archive. "We select and archive sites to represent aspects of UK documentary heritage and as a result, they will remain available to researchers in the future." I'm rather chuffed about this!
Wikipedia now have an entry for the earthquake. There is some confusion as to what this quake is to be called. I'm sure the name will settle down sometime, but currently on the cards are:
- The Sendai Earthquake
- 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
- The 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku Earthquake (not very catchy, this one!)
- Tōhoku Kantō Great Earthquake
- East Japan Great Earthquake
- East Japan Giant Earthquake
Finally for tonight, I want to spread the news about a fantastically adventurous and ground-breaking "Help Japan" plan by a good friend of mine, Caroline Pover.
I quote from her site:
"I can give speeches, I am persuasive, I can write, and I don't like the word "no." Those skills have to be helpful in this situation somehow. This is what I'm doing … I am going to drive a truck around the UK giving talks to schools and any other communities about how wonderful Japan is and all the reasons why I love it, and fill that truck with food, clothes, toys, money, and whatever else the people of Japan need in order to rebuild their lives. Virgin Atlantic will help me get it to Japan, and I will arrange for it to get to where it is needed."
There is a Facebook page set up for this venture. Please spread the word and if you can help in any way, please get in contact directly with Caroline as soon as possible.
