一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

by Iino, Staff, Rentai Tohoku

As announced in the article on the 28th July, the exhibition of a wooden temporary house was presented by Sumita-town and a general foundation, more trees, at Roppongi Hills Arena and I visited the site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could smell the aroma of Kesen cedars from the distance I was taking photographs.
Four Kesen carpenters who arrived the day before and some carpenters in Tokyo built the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The house made of Kesen cedar timbers provides good thermal insulation, and eventually, when it ends its service and is knocked down, the timbers will be used as fuel. As a merit of local production for local consumption, the building cost is only 3 million yen per house.
The event "Tohoku Marche and Food Stalls" took place at the same time and was run by volunteers from Sumita-town.

The exhibition was filled with vitality and humane spirit of people of Sumita-town proud themselves in Japan's best forestry business and more trees staff who are working together toward reconstruction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wooden temporary housings in Sumita-town are being built by the wise decision made by Mayor Tada, and LIFE311 has set a goal to provide 300 million yen as a fund. LIFE311 (more trees) is accepting contributions to "build even more temporary housings and help reconstruction of disaster areas"(Mayor Tada).

 

[About donations] LIFE311(Support Project for afflicted areas of the Pacific coast by Tohoku Earthquake) by more trees

http://life311.more-trees.org/

 

 

 

(Mr. K, Age 49, Tokyo)

This time I helped with tying nets for seaweed cultivation, cutting ropes to make nets and making loops. When cutting ropes to make nets for seaweed, I chatted with young fishermen. According to them, there was a meeting at Shiogama where they discussed if fishing rights should be sold to business entities. Apparently, most fishermen were strongly against the idea. One of the reasons was that they had seen a capital investor who obtained fishing rights fail in business and retreat leaving local fishermen with debts. Another fisherman worried that if a salary system was introduced and fishermen wouldn't be able to earn according to how hard they worked, their motivation to culture good quality seaweed might decrease.

by Nagayama, Staff, Rentai Tohoku

 

The latest event related to Tohoku disaster relief activities has been announced.

 

LIFE311, a support project for afflicted areas of the Pacific coast by Tohoku Earthquake, is going to organize an exhibition of a wooden temporary housing at Roppongi Hills Arena from 29^th (Fri) to 31^st(Sun) July, 2011. LIFE311 has been building wooden temporary housings using local timbers from affected areas.

The reporter visited a building site in Sumida-machi, Kesen-gun, Iwate, and met staff members of more trees and local carpenters. They told the reporter that more funds were needed to build houses.

If you have some spare time over the weekend, why don't you drop in on the exhibition and experience the warm atmosphere of the temporary house built by skilful Kesen carpenters.

 

[Event details]

more trees - Get to Know Trees, Get to Know Forests. ～See What it's like inside wood temporary housing ～http://www.roppongihills.com/events/2011/07/arn_moretrees.html

 

[Event Organizer]

LIFE311(Support Project for afflicted areas of the Pacific coast by Tohoku Earthquake) by more trees

http://life311.more-trees.org/en

 

Activity: Cutting ropes to be used for floating rafts of seaweed and oyster farms

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(Mr. T, Age 30, Tokyo)

Gathering information on television or the Internet may be one thing, but I realized how important it is to talk directly with local people and experience the reality of affected areas. Even now, destroyed houses and public buildings are left abandoned, and tons of rubbish and huge containers are washed up on the beach. There are cracks in the ground at the port due to liquefaction. Apparently the removal of the rubble had just started one day before our arrival. Actions by the local government could have been a little faster.
When I asked local fishermen if they had any particular worries, they said "No, not specially. But we would need successors."
They are doing their usual work as they have always done. Fishermen on Katsura Island have already taken a path to self-supporting recovery.

Some people I met were anxious about the disposable of the rubble and said they were willing to take any advice or suggestion.

(Mr. M, Age 25, Tokyo)

 

Activity

I helped fishermen tying ropes for fishing etc. with their technical advice.

The current state of Katsura Island

When I arrived at the island, though four months had passed since the earthquake, it was surprising that paved roads were still left cracked, the subsidence area were flooded at high tide, and destroyed houses were abandoned as they were. The earthquake seemed to highlight their longstanding problems such as the successor problem in the fishing industry and the depopulation of the island.

Mid- to long-term support for recovery required

When I asked locals if they had changed their prospect about the restoration since immediately after the earthquake, they told me that at first, they expected things would get back to normal before summer, but now, they admitted the recovery would take years. For the reconstruction support, I strongly believe that it is most important to continue support activities to assist the people in affected areas to become self-reliant. We should talk with local people to specify what is most needed and provide advice and actual help for their self-supporting recovery.

 

Here we would like to present the views of someone at the site.

 

（Mr. K ・Age:30 ・ Male   Resident of Katsurajima, Miyazaki prefecture   Occupation:Fishing (Oyster cultivation)

<Recent situation of island residents' lives>
People who had been living in emergency shelters have begun occupying temporary housing since July. In terms of restoration work, we have been cooperating with the Self Defense Force to maintain roads, clear grass for the construction of temporary housing, and removing debris from beaches. At the beaches though, however much clearing is done, rubble continues to be washed ashore.

 

<Message to people from all areas>
Volunteers, the Self Defense Force, temporary housing construction workers, various people have visited us and our daily lives are improving.

 

Without this support we would not be where we are now, and we are very thankful for all your goodwill. We will strive for recovery and hope that we will be able to repay you with our delicious seafood products. In addition, if you have the chance to visit our island, I think the natural environment will liberate you from the stress of your daily lives and do wonders for you.

We would like to introduce our meeting/lodging house,
which is the center of our activities.
It is located in Sennmaya-cho in Ichinoseki, Iwate prefecture
 (30 mins drive to Kesennuma, 40 mins drive to Hiraizumi,
60 mins drive to Ofunato).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

・It is a two storey house. There is enough space in the living room
 to enable several dozen people to gather for meetings.
・Kitchen, shower, flush toilet
・For bedding we have 10 sleeping bags available.

-Examples of usage-
＊As an activity hub for support workers (in some cases
 the duration of usage will be need to be decided
 following a discussion).
＊As a meeting house for local people.

＊As a lodging house or meeting place for advisors
 from various regions and/or local people.


If you would like to make use of this facility, please contact the staff member
in charge at the email address given below.
（Staff member in charge：Nagayama）
E-mail

Our office is located in Kawasaki-cho in Ichinoseki, Iwate prefecture
(30 mins drive to Kesennuma, 40 mins drive to Hiraizumi/60 mins drive to Ofunato).

Here is a description of the vehicles we have available for rental.
Number of vehicles：6 vehicles（one campervan and five 4WD SUVs）

 

Campervan（Dodge Roadtrek190）

 

•Seats seven, sleeps five
•Shower, kitchen, toilet, fridge, microwave,
 fully airconditioned
•Luggage rack, sufficient space in the rear
 to carry relief supplies
•Left-hand drive

 

 

 

4WD SUV（Chevrolet Blazer）

･Seats five
･The vehicle has a front bench seat which makes
 it easy to rest,
 or change in the car, and transport ill
 passengers from the disaster area.
･Right-hand drive


-Examples for vehicle usage-
＊As accommodation or a means of transport when going to
   temporary clinics in the disaster area for medical support
＊As accommodation or a means of transport for volunteer activities
＊As a means of transport for disaster victims who are having
   difficulties getting around in their daily lives

If you would like to make use of our vehicles, please contact
the staff member in charge at the email address provided below.
(Staff member in charge: Nagayama)
E-mail

（Mr. F・Age:32 ・ Male   Tokyo resident)

 

We helped with the transportation and production of bamboo materials for the rafts used in oyster cultivation. Due to land subsidence, the port becomes inundated with water twice a day. Although the smiles and laughter of the people of Katsurajima trying to raise their own spirits didn't die out, within this positive atmosphere there were voices of concern that more people are needed to help make the rafts necessary for seaweed and oyster cultivation.

 

Details of activity：Helping the fishermen who cultivate seaweed (shearing ropes used for rafts)
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（Mr. S ・Age:41・Male Tokyo resident)

Our activities on the island involved mainly physical work (under the guidance of fishermen) such transporting bamboo which are used to make the rafts necessary for oyster and seaweed cultivation, as well as helping with the manufacture process for ropes also used in raft making. 
The rafts have been wrecked twice in the past year with the Chile earthquake, and now the Tohoku Earthquake of 11 March. Although the plan was to produce 800 rafts by the autumn, currently there are 400, which is only half the required amount, and people are working without a break.

Soon a Shinto ceremony to purify the site will be held, and debris-removal work will also begin in earnest.

We need to continue to directly help those who experienced extensive damage, and I hope that this can help strengthen the ties between the people of Tohoku.

 

Details of activity：Helping the fishermen who cultivate seaweed (Shearing ropes used for rafts)
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（Mr. A ・Age:26 ・ Male   Tokyo resident)

What I felt when I came into contact with the people at the site is that they are all have a positive outlook. Everything they had spent their time and effort on until now has all fallen apart and there is no other way but to start building their lives again from scratch. Electricity only started coming through at the beginning of May, and there being no hospital, the island residents told us warmly how grateful they were for us to come week after week to volunteer.

 

I felt strongly that despite being in difficult circumstances, in order to be able to live alongside the beautiful sea again, it is necessary to recognize what needs to be done and carry it out. When living in urban areas there is always a tendency to have sparse interaction with neighbours, but in Katsurajima the whole town is like one big family, and regardless of the fact that there was a huge earthquake disaster it felt steeped in a warm atmosphere.

Details of activity：Helping the fishermen who cultivate seaweed (shearing ropes used for rafts)

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（Mr. N ・Age:39 ・ Male   Tokyo resident)

 

Despite the fact that 850 rafts are to be made by the time seeds need to be attached for seaweed cultivation in autumn, only 300-400 rafts have been completed. Although the work was simple, involving cutting ropes for net spreading to a fixed length using a soldering iron, it was a great help for the small number of fishermen for us to lend our hand with this activity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At times other than when seaweed is being cultivated, gathering clams and wakame seaweed makes up a crucial part of the fishermen's livelihoods. However, land subsidence due to the recent earthquake disaster has resulted in a rise in the water level and we heard that it is no longer possible for them to gather clams.