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8/6/2019 Shaken by Its Worst Disaster in Recent Memory
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Shaken by its worst disaster
in recent memory, Japan is
battling to restore the hope
for a shocked and
vulnerable population,
including hundreds ofthousands crowded into
evacuation centers, and
slowly getting back on its
feet despite obstacles.
In many respects, the March
11 earthquake and tsunami
in Japans northeast is
rapidly becoming a disaster
associated with the elderly.
The three evacuationcenters in the shattered
town of Otsuchi are filled
with the old and ill. Many
are too tired or too sick to
do little but lie on
mattresses on the floor,
wraped in blankets.
The weather is taking a
heavy toll on the health of
the survivors in evacuation
centers, many of whom are
elderly. Japanese Red Cross
Society doctors say therehas been an increase in
cases of influenza and some
diarrheal diseases.
Takanori Watanabe, a Red
Cross doctor from Himeji, in
western Japan, arrived in
Otsuchi as part of a 12-
person mobile medical team
which runs daily clinicsaround the evacuation
centers.
On Friday, the 18th
of March
the team was based in the
infirmary of Otsuchi High
School, where about 700
people filled the floor space
of the schools gymnasium.
The infirmarys only two
beds are being used by anelderly woman who is
barely conscious and an old
man badly dehydrated.
Most of the patients coming
to the clinic are elderly and
many have lost their daily
medication in the
disaster.There are a lot of
people with chronic
conditions and today, its
cold so some people havefallen ill, Dr. Watanabe
said.
Weve had a bad stomach
virus going around so a lot
of people are getting
diarrhea and becoming
dehydrated. The Red Cross
teams have a limited variety
of medicine and since
supplies are limited patientsare getting just three-days
supply.
Another member of Dr.
Watanabes team, who is
trained in emotional
counseling, sits in the
corner, quietly comforting a
teenage girl who has her
head in her hands and is
sobbing. Everyone inOtsuchi has lost someone.
A relative, a friend or a
neighbor the entire town
has been affected. Helping
people to overcome trauma
is a major issue and teams
of Japanese Red Cross
Society counselors are being
deployed to combat stress-
related illnesses that are
beginning to emerge.
Certainly, life in the
evacuation centers isnt
easy for the young either.
Ayumi Yamazaki, 21, sits in
the large gymnasium with
her older sister, niece,
mother and one-and-a-half
year-old daughter, Yuwa.
Her house was destroyed in
the tsunami. She just
managed to escape, first to
a nearby hill, but when the
churning mass of debris
brought in by the tsunami
caught fire, she was forced
further up the mountain.
We get one bowl of soup
or one piece of bread to
share among three people,
she said. Its cold here, and
my daughter and niece
caught a cold but just now
we got some medicine from
the Red Cross.
At the Otsuchi municipal
council, Koso Hirano, has a
massive job on his hands. By
default, he assumed control
of the council when the
Mayor and seven other
council members died when
the tsunami came in.
We always thought we
were well prepared, he
said. We built six meter (20
feet) barrages and dykes but
the wave was ten meters
(33 feet) high and people
barely had twenty minutes
to escape, said Hirano .
A very good morning to
PnPuteri and fellow friends.
On this beautiful day, I am
here to talk about the
disasters happening in
Japan, just like my topic for
today says JapanThe
master of disaster.
As what we can see
happened in Japan or any
other countries affected
that matters we can never
be too prepared.With this, I
end my oral. Thank you.