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.