Saturday, March 26, 2011

ICAN'TDIEEEEEEE

Here's the full text from an interview I submitted to a Pittsburgh newspaper about, you know, surviving a 9.0 earthquake and a 4 or 5 meter tsunami that totally wrrrrrRRRECKED my apartment, as I'm sure you've seen.


My landlords, Hisashi and Kazuko Kando, and I retreated to a Buddhist
temple on a hill above my apartment at the wharfs opening.

From there, we watched the tsunami, pitch-black and towering, smash
into and over the walls that were built to protect us from just such
an occasion. After the worst of it, after maybe 45 minutes of being
continually impressed by the seemingly endless tidal destruction, I
went into the remains of my neighborhood to survey the extent of the
damage.

Cars were stacked on top of each other, alarms sounding shrilly;
buildings were precariously leaning on one another for support, or in
its absence falling down to become indistinguishable from
thedebris. Uglier than the physical state of my neighborhood,though,
was the sight of a manimmersed in the remaining filth, struggling as
hard to stay afloat as he was trying to find his mother who was
apparently in the house when the tsunami collapsed it. For a time all
we could do was watch from above, imploring him to get to higher
ground, as the steep path down to him was yet blocked. Despite our
pleas for him to get to a safer place, he was stuck where he was, and
only answered us with desperate calls to his mother

Finally, the tide receeded enough for 2 to make there way to a rooftop
near the struggling man and were able to extend a pole to him and drag
him to land. While this was being performed, Hisashi and I brought
blankets for the man lying soaked on the ground, shoeless and crying
in the snow flurries at dusk.

After wrapping him in a truly ridiculous amount of blankets, we
devised our strategy to get him up out of the flood zone to where we
were safe. Because we had descended via a very steep path made into a
makeshift staircase, we had no choice but to use the blankets as a
sling and try to carry him up as slowly and carefully as possible.
This worked, but it wasnt very pretty, but the guy got out ok so Im
notcomplaining. We brought him into a house with a gas heater, gave
him some hot tea, and wiped nour hands of that. In the face of all the
other problems that neefd addressed, this didnt feel like much more
than one small item checked of a very long list.

CONCERNING MY APT.

My apartmentwas located in an area of Miyako called Koganji, which was
at the end of the main drag stretching from the train station downtown
to the fisheries of the wharf that is Oodori Road. It was owned and
also lived in by the Kandos, a really great married couple in their
60s with whom I had dinner every Thursday. Thursday also happened to
bethe day AM. Football games were broadcast, what we tuned in for
anxiously everyweek, but thats neither here nor there.

Koganji was a nice area with parks, and I was literally a 30 second
walkfrom the shore... so yeah make no mistake that the tsunami hit me
hard. While not as bad as the neighboringvillage of Taro, which has
been completely levelled, Koganji itself is massively devestated.
Which is why I am so completely surprised that all Ive lost is my road
bike and luggage. Because I lived onthe second floor and also because
my building was completely surrounded by others that absorbed a lot of
the impact, I was able to break into my apartment a few days later
and recover valuables. Dumb? Sure, but at least Im a well-dressed
homeless person.

Well, not exactly homeless. A good friend of mine Seiji Shimoyama
isputting me and a few otherfriends up at his place. Everyday we wake
up and do what we can to help, and everynight ten or so of us sit down
to a meal, toast each other to a job maybe not well done but good
enough, and spend the night in each others company joking, comforting,
and supporting each other as if nothing has changed. Its not bad.

CONCERNING RADIATION
Miyako is in Iwate prefecture, 2 prefectures above Fukushima
prefecturewhere the power plant is, so this is not really something Im
thinking about.


WHY I WANT TO HELP
Why wouldnt I? I could relocate to Morioka, or I could go as far as
going back stateside, but the fact of the matter is I wont, not for
the time being. Ive lived here since November '09, and in that time
Ive developed many relations andattachments, and since the moment I
learned I had these options to leave, all I can think is, what kind of
person would I be if in fair weather Id readily participate in the
give and take of friendship, but in the midst of the storm just pack
up and leave? I also find myself thinking, dont Pittsburghers fiercely
protect their friends and family? Arent Americans supposed to help
those in great need? If i really think about it on a meta level,
everything Ive ever been taught by friends and family, all the culture
and values of my hometown that I grew upwith, and the calling that all
citizens of the nation I was born in... taking all of these things
into account, I dontthink I ever had much of a choice in the matter
but to stay and do my part tohelp this town recover; because, more
than anything, its what people, not just Pittsburghers or Americans,
but what people are supposed to do.


ON REBUILDING
Thats not really a topic of conversation at the moment. Sure, shop
owners are hinting atwhat theyll do down the road, but the cleanup
itself will take months if not more, and until thats complete we dont
really know what is going to happen.
COMM. DIFFICULTIES
At the moment, Im relying solely on cell phones to communicate with
others. And, since my phone company is the AT&T, I have to rely on
friends with phones on a different network, because I still dont have
service. You have no idea how long it took for me to write this on
this alphamumeric keypad.

2 comments:

  1. Matt is great to hear that you are ok. One of the first things I thought about when I heard of the earthquake was if you were safe. I was relieved when Peter said there was word that you were alright. I think it pretty awesome of you to stay and help. That really takes a ton of strength.

    Besides, giving to charities let us know if we can do anything to help.

    I found the article if anyone is interested in reading it: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_728379.html.

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  2. Just for writing this story on your cell phone you win the Tenacity Cluster with persistence ribbon. Matt, we're grateful you're still with us an proud of the work you're doing in Miyako. Say hi to everyone for us.

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