Gifts
Chie Togo works in Portland at Mercy Corps NW's Reentry Transition Center helping formerly incarcerated people back into the community.
Recent Posts
Japan January 23, 2012 11:37AM
Going back to my tsunami-hit homeland
Chie Togo
Mercy Corps NW
Share:
Many buildings in Rikuzentakata were completely destroyed by the tsunami. Photo: Chie Togo/Mercy Corps
Even lamposts were bent to 90 degrees, and it was plain to see where the raging water had torn through buildings. Photo: Chie Togo/Mercy Corps
When the earthquake and tsunami hit my homeland last March, I was devastated. Though it had been twenty years since I left Japan to move to the US, I knew I had to go back and help.
Ordinarily I work for Mercy Corps Northwest, the part of Mercy Corps that helps people in Oregon and Washington here in the US to increase their economic self-sufficiency and integrate with the community. But I heard about the work the Mercy Corps and our partner Peace Winds Japan were doing to support communities recovering from the tsunami, and asked if I could spend my vacation helping. It took a while to arrange, but eventually late last year I finally managed to make it out to the northeastern region of Tohoku to spend a week with the teams there.
When I arrived at the station in Ichinoseki, I was met by falling snow and bitter cold temperatures. I worried not only about the week-long volunteer stint that lay before me, but what impact the freezing temperatures would have on our efforts. But when I made it to the office and saw how hard everyone was working and how welcome they made me, I knew everything would be okay.
At first I spent some time helping in the office in Ichinoseki, helping to translate from Japanese to English. Then I travelled with the team to Kesennuma, a coastal town decimated by the tsunami. As we got off the train, the station itself looked like nothing had happened. But beyond it was a different story. In fact, it was worse than anything I’d ever seen. As we got closer to the seafront there were destroyed buildings, wreckage and debris as far as I could see. Every streetlight was bent at a 90-degree angle. I could see where the tsunami ripped through the insides of all the buildings. It looked like a huge bomb had been dropped just days before.
