“ARE you okay?”
This was a friend calling me on the morning of March 11, 2011.
I told her I’m fine and she explained she had called me as she’d heard about the earthquake that happened in Japan several hours ago. I immediately logged onto Facebook.
After checking on friends that still lived in the country, I went to news web sites to read about what had happened in the country I had called home seven months earlier.
I remember talking to a friend who lives in Kyoto and she simply said to me: “Tokyo’s lights are off.”
I knew right then the amount of damaged that was caused by the 8.9 earthquake and the tsunami that followed. With more than 15 000 deaths, over 6 000 people injured and more than 2 000 people missing.
I watched along with millions as towns were levelled and people were distraught with the aftermath, including nuclear scares.
It was heartbreaking to hear about the families that were displaced and how some had become “refugees” in other prefectures. Reports state that more than 200 000 are still displaced to date and that children living within close proximity to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are still not allowed to be outside more than 15 to 30 minutes because of radiation fears.
Recovery and healing is slow but I watched the resilience of a nation that has come to be close to my heart – though they lost a lot, they were still able to rise up and continue to do so.
