Truck Stuff

What..?

Ah...

I love my Kei truck.
Once I get a lot of lumber in the back, I prefer to leave it there. But, what if it rains tonight? I could put it in the shed, but it's so much work....
A rather clunky solution.
I thank God for the members of the Ofunato Baptist Church, who let me stay here, right on the coast (this is the church we fixed up in April). Obviously, housing is at a premium, and many volunteers commute an hour or more.
I am thankful to my brother-in-law, Martin Ghent, who arranged for the use of a shed just across an empty lot from the church. The owner is glad to have volunteers use it. I keep tools and materials there, and work inside if it's raining. So many blessings!

Beds

The girls had the beds made up before I got the next project done!

The lady of the house was thrilled to learn how to use a drill-driver. This rather random looking item is my answer to entryway clutter. Answer? Well, it helps a bit....

Temporary housing is just that.
It's way better than sitting on a gym floor with half the town for two or three months, but big challenges remain for those who are now in the temporary units. It is incredible how fast the projects came together, but limitations imposed by time and cost restraints are obvious. Many companies were involved- there are different styles, qualities, sizes and surroundings. One place is a dozen units overlooking a green valley, and near stores. Another is a teeming, close-set 300+ units crowded into a school ground high up the mountainside and far from services.
Today I was building for a family that live on the beautiful Hirota Penninsula in Rikuzen Takata.
Only two buildings are standing in their village, which had 40 houses.The family of 4 has 4 small rooms in a project of 100 some units on a school ground. The floors and ceiling are uninsulated. So much moisture comes up through the floor that the carpet is molding. The outside walls are thin metal panels with a bit of insulation; they sweat on cold days. Winter is coming.
The mother wanted beds. I built a bunk bed for the two girls, and a sleeping platform with storage room undeneath for the parents. That, along with a shelf in a closet and a storage unit in the entry, took me until evening to complete.
As I left, the family came to see me off. The mother was nearly in tears. She confided that she hopes their health holds out until they can get into something better.
'At last I have a bed! I feel like it's a home now. At least, now we have nice beds in this shack.'
Many are working hard to overcome the disaster.
It's not over yet.

That Sinking Feeling

The low stone barrier thrown up first is now being topped with huge bags of sand to keep the Pacific off Route 45.

This section is not done yet. In the distance is what is left of the massive seawall that failed to stem the once-in-a-millenium tsunami.

How I got lost. All four directions are Route 38?!

Most of the coastline of North Eastern Japan sank a meter- more or less- on March 11, 2011.
What does that mean? Here is the initial work being done in Rikuzen Takada, Iwate, in preparation for storms and surge tides. This temporary barrier protects Route 45, the coast road.
This trip, I was on roads that were under water from recent rains (the drains don't run downhill any more), or that were literally inches above sea level. I discovered that the beautiful Hirota Penninsula (Takata) became and island during the tsunami, as it has a low spot where it joins the mainland. It was a bit creepy driving through there on the way home this evening, especially as I got lost, and came back onto the main road past a sign that said the bumpy, patched-up bit I had been on was closed!

Another Busy Day

Mrs. Oda's deck was finished today, but not before her baby almost fell off!

First on the work agenda today was 3 benches, delivered to Ikawa Elementary School on the way to Maeda Kouen to build a second deck for a resident there. Why two? This one had to be 5 cm narrower, to go through the door. The resident apparently thinks it will make a good bed, and when I suggested leaving the railings off, she insisted they would come in handy!
Beds are on the horizon. I did a single and a double deck today (and ended up with requests for 5 more), but the first cool days of fall have a lot of peole worried they will freeze if they sleep on the damp (mostly uninsulated) floors, so decks may take a back seat to beds for awhile. Even more worrisome was hearing a woman say there have been big sales of unvented kerosene heaters that don't need electricity. Everyone remembers the cold weeks with no power this spring, and the temporary housing units have electric heat pumps for both cooling and heating. But, if people try to heat these tiny, well sealed units with an unvented oil heater, they will die, plain and simple.
Tomorrow I am to build a bunk bed and a semi-single bed for a friend of a friend, to get them off the floor, which is molding in places. It is hard to find beds the right size in the stores. The temporary housing they live in has four tiny rooms. Neither the AC or the heat works outside the room the unit is in.
The first impression upon driving into the disaster area is that things are coming under control. To a large extent, that is true. The government, volunteer organizations, and the victims themselves have been working long and hard. But, the problem is too big to be solved so quickly. There are lots of gaps to plug.
It's not over yet.

Sept. 28-30

Another bench for "the lady across the street"- Mrs. Kanno.

Mrs. Oda and her neighbor try out my first-ever "double deck".

I keep meaning to write about life in Ajigasawa as well, but it never seems to happen. I am back in Iwate for a few days, doing some promised work.
Since I was here last, there was a cold spell. It looks like the temporary housing is not going to be very good in cold weather. I hope all the relief agencies are on the ball, preparing cold weather stuff for the weeks ahead.
As for me, I was building decks and benches today.
This morning early, I made a second bench for Mrs. Konno, the lady across from the Ofunato Baptist Church. She wanted to have more capacity to invite passing volunteers into her yard for tea. I also made a new top for the table she had been using; a cast aluminum base with a plastic tray balanced on top (both scrounged from the flotsam around her place). The base now has a new wooden top; I'm not sure what the fate of the plastic tray will be.
The next stop was a new place, Ikawa Kouen (park), not too far away from the place I was at the last time. Mrs. Oda, a young mother, wanted her deck to stretch across to her next-door neighbor's place. The neighbor is a young mom, too; I guess they will do some trading of babysitting. Anyway, it took time to work out the modified plans and get it done. As you can see from the photo, it was late afternoon by the time I finished. I was worried about another contact at the Ikawa Elementary school, as I had promided to see them today as well. After a brief consultation about closing in the porches at Ikawa Kouen for 3 people, I finally headed for the elementary school. The whole playground is covered with temporary housing- as are most of the school playgrounds on the coast. I had made a second bench in the morning for this place, and ended up with orders for 3 more.
There are two more new places to visit this time, and I came up with yet another. It came about in a strange way. I had stopped in a convienience store to get a toothbrush (I always forget something), and inadvertantly let out a big sigh as the cashier rang it up. He was very sympathetic, and asked what I had been doing to get so tired out.
When I told him, he immediately asked me to make a deck for one of his relatives! Which I did. It needed to be yet another innovation, as this place, Undou Kouen ("Sports Park") has windows instead of sliding doors in the back walls of the units. I ended up making a low floor with a single bar on front to dry bedding. I wasn't very impressed, but 2 other residents were, so- two more orders.
The Sports Park and the elementary school are both much bigger than the places I have been so far; 300 units, compared to a dozen or so in each of the 3 other places. In both of these large projects gangs of carpenters (where did they all come from?) were busy building acess ramps for handicapped residents. I also saw a lot of benches that were provided by an NPO. All of them were brightly painted, as that was the condition under which they were given- the recipiants had to decorate them.
Tomorrow looks like another busy day. I have 2 more new places to visit, and some unfinished business in the previous ones.
It's not over yet....

Five Months Later

Garbage plile across from the Ofunato Bible Baptist Church, March 2011. Junk from flooded houses.

The same view, September 2011.

Interior of the house across the street from the church. The lady who lives in this house clung to a cabinet in this room for over an hour until the 7 feet of frigid, filthy water drained away.

Benches built for another neighbor of the church. These are the custom, extra-wide model.

Five Months Later

I was just getting into my truck in the parking lot of the Ofunato Bible Baptist Church, Iwate Prefecture,to go home after 3 days of relief work, and reflecting how late it had gotten, when the lady across the street waved and called to me. With a big smile, she bowed and thanked me again for the bench I had made for her. "Won't you come over for a cup of tea?" she asked.

Since one of the aims of doing relief work is to talk to victims of the tsunami, it seemed silly for me to beg off. I went across the street, and sat on the bench. It is right outside her patio doors (in Japan, there is usually an 18 inch step down to the ground).

"This bench is great", she said. "Now, when volunteers walk by, I can ask them to stop and chat without having to invite them in. Most of them are too shy to come in. Just yesterday, there was a whole group of them here. We talked for two hours. It's great to be able to get to know them and thank them for all they are doing for us here."

She looked thoughtful "But I think I have to ask someone to put a roof over here. They were out in the sun, and it was really hot. It would be good for when it's raining, too. But, all the carpenters are busy. They are working on the new hospital, so I guess I can't complain; we really need it. But I wish I could get my floors finished in here. And my walls. They pulled the floors up and cleaned out underneath, but they only finished this one little room. In the room I sleep in, they threw the old plywood back down and we put a carpet over it. It still smells like the tsunami. You know that smell?. The black mud from the harbor bottom? (Don't I! I shoveled enough of it!). I go to sleep for about an hour, then I wake up in a panic with that smell in my nostrils. I go on like that until about 3:00 a.m., then just give up, and listen to the radio or the TV. Then I sit around here all day half asleep. Every time there is an aftershock, or just a loud noise, I break out in goose bumps."

"But, one good thing, the tsunami brought us together. I never did much with the neighbors before, but now we make extra when we're cooking and take it to each other. And, now I know what a front yard is for. I can talk to people when they pass, and invite them in for tea. I use this table, here. See, I just put this tray on top. The tsunami took the top off it and carried it off some where. Can you make me a new top for it? And, can you make me another bench? Some of my guests had to stand the last time."

So, I got home later than I wanted to, but happier than I would have been otherwise. The furniture I make is cheap, fast and "rustic", but it does the job. Great strides have been made in recovery, but these people in their partially repaired houses (often it is not obvious from the outside just how partially they are repaired) and their cramped temporary housing still have a long way to go. What I do is a drop in the bucket. But, after all, a full bucket is a bucketful of drops.