ISHINOMAKI

We have just read the morning newspaper which has given us a town by town assessment of damage and loss of life along Japan's North-east coastline.
The news for Ishinomaki is not good but perhaps not as bad as we initially thought in terms of death toll.
The numbers as they stand at the moment are; 1000 confrimed dead, another 400 still missing and 43,000 homeless. When you see those figures for just one town along the coast it gives you an idea of the scope of the tragedy and the impact it will have for each of these smaller coastal communities as well as the larger ones like Sendai.
Unfortunately for us and for the students of Ishinomaki, I cannot see them making the trip to Australia this year. If had the money, I'd love to pay their way, just to get them away from the devastation, even if only for a week, to give them some respite from the grief and frightful memories which surround them.
I hope the fundraiser goes really well at OSPS to aid the schools and relief work which is starting to take place now.
Thankfully the town is more than 100km away from Fukushima, where the added disaster of the nuclear reactors is occurring, and which therefore allows the rescue and clean-up work in Ishinomaki to continue relatively unimpeded.
Power is starting to come back on line in some areas but there are still towns without kerosene, which is the major source of heating in Japan, as they have no natural gas supply. With roads blocked in many areas it has not been possible to get kerosene in by tankers to the affected areas.
This compounds the woes as you can imagine. With 43,000 homeless in a town like Ishinomaki, no kerosene and it is snowing heavily, you can imagine the conditions people are living under.
We just hope that the government, which despite reports in Western media is doing all it can under stressful and trying circumstances, can make the plight of the people in the affected areas a little easier in the coming days.