A 5.7 to start the day and a 4.6 to go to bed by. They get one’s attention and are a frequent reminder that this event isn’t over yet. A few final tasks today in Iwate Prefecture before heading back to Sendai. We needed to track down the location of the shelters for people from Kessenuma and Minami Sanriku so we could get a comparison to the stories and experiences of the Sendai area. We are lucky today. It’s Sunday and we were concerned that city offices would be closed. But the man who ran the shelter last night was just clocking out to go home and is willing to guide us to the Ichinoseki temporary housing. After a long day and night’s work, this was really going out of his way for us. No matter what country I’ve been in, I’m always impressed and gratified by the kindness of strangers – especially the closer one gets to the disaster area. I’ve had some unpleasant hurdles set by a few bureaucrats far from the scene, but very few doors shut in my face in the midst of the destruction.

The Ichinoseki temporary housing facility makes use of partially occupied four-story public apartment buildings. We don’t feel comfortable knocking on doors so wait in the parking area hoping to intercept someone willing to talk to us as they enter or leave. It’s not a statistically accurate sampling technique, but at this point we are trying to be as unobtrusive as possible and still get an idea of the principal issues. We talk to two older men who were both outside of the inundation area when the earthquake struck and both headed back into the zone on feeling the earthquake. The first was from Kessenuma. He was at work away from the coast, and the earthquake was the trigger for him to get in his car and drive to his home. His wife was there and had mobility issues. He knew his house was at risk – it was in a low area near the river and frequently flooded. But he was stopped by the first tsunami surges before he was able to get home and he was able to turn around and drive to a safe area. Fortunately another relative had picked up his wife so they both survived. He spent 40 days in an evacuation shelter before moving into the temporary housing. Every day he goes back to Kessenuma to get information about the cleanup and recovery efforts because he gets no information where he now lives. The second man was from Minami Sanriku and he was working in his fields far from the coast when the earthquake struck. He had a different reason for wanting to go back to his house. He wanted to get his wallet and other personal belongings. His wife and daughter begged him not to go, but he went anyway. He was also stopped by the first tsunami surges before he arrived, and by driving very fast, was able to escape. We have heard this story now too many times – the earthquake was a trigger. Not the trigger to head to higher ground, but to go from a safe area and drive back into a hazard zone to get a loved one or to rescue possessions. We’ve only talked to the ones who escaped. My guess is that many of the victims did the same thing – they just weren’t as lucky.

On the drive back to Sendai, we pass close to Hiraizumi, and a good excuse to visit Chuson-ji, a famous Buddhist temple founded around 1100 by the Fujiwara clan. The first Fujiwara lord lost most of his family in the vicious civil wars of the era and established the temple to foster peace and reconciliation. It is a beautiful site – tall trees, a complex of beautifully restored temples and an opportunity to decompress and reflect on what we are learning. The site is one of two in Japan currently under consideration for World Heritage designation by UNESCO.