A Tribute to Japan: Courage: Beyond Tsunami Waves

At 14.46 on 03/11/11 Japan was struck by a huge earthquake that was later measured as an 8.9 magnitude shallow quake off her Northern shore. Within so few minutes, the events that followed horrified the entire world, as what was filmed throughout North Eastern Japan, Miyagi Prefecture and Fukushima, had never been so extensively seen in real time before.

The massive quake created massive sets of Tsunami Waves that raced towards the land from the quivering horizon to swamp almost the entire eastern coastline. Those waves were said to be 40 meters high at the time they struck the coast.

Japan is no stranger to tsunami and as such, the majority of her coastal villages, towns and cities have for many years had precautionary seawalls built to defuse any potential effect of tsunami waves. On this day however, those seawalls were to prove completely insignificant when faced with the wrath of one of nature's most powerful recorded earthquakes and its subsequent tsunami harbor waves.

We of the world watched in complete disbelief and felt for every person who was shown running from the ocean surges that swept up the valleys to the hills, across airport runways and intensively cropped farmland. But the most dramatic scenes were of the port towns, where buildings, houses, vehicles, fishing fleet, pets and real people were smashed into a surging mass of debris that pushed inland and then out to sea, to join the next wave in the lethal procession.

Copyright © 2012 - 2013 Pearldiver nzpol with all rights reserved.

Over 22,000 people are still missing, one year after the event. Every town hit by waves was decimated and contains survivors, all whom have lost their family members, friends, neighbors, homes and livelihoods. Today across vast patches of the Pacific, pieces of those communities still flow with the current thousands of miles from home. Every community has built mountains of debris as their towns have been searched, dismantled and cleared, one part of the harsh process that is required within the rebuilding of broken lives. May time improve their lives.

This is a tribute to the people of Japan who throughout such disasters, stand united, proud and in true Bushido traditional style, have vowed to Never Give Up! I hope that these few words can help us understand the courage, determination and quiet suffering that defines the very nature of special people. This tribute is called: ' Courage: Beyond Tsunami Waves' and is written in the style of Tanka and Haiku, by Pearldiver. The Japanese word for Courage is Yuki. Please take time to consider their plight.

* Pearldiver *

Copyright © 2012 - 2013 Pearldiver nzpol with all rights reserved.

Tranquility breaks

Our land in earthquake shockwaves

Perhaps it will snow

Coastal trees seem concerned

And ask why the tide is out

^^^^ ^^

Blue silence defies

Fishing boats no longer float

Time and tide they say

Tsunami tsunami waves

Roaring thunder drowns life

^^ ^^^^

Silent Yuki lives

Eastern Japan destroyed

Please do not snow

We have so many to find

As we endure in silence

^ ^^ ^^^

Miyagi harbors

Who will mend torn fishing nets?

Dead fish on the hills

^^^ ^ ^^

Seas of last year’s kelp

We harvest each seaborne gift

United as one

^^ ^^ ^^

New tracks in fresh snow

Black crows depart on blue winds

In times of great change

Hope lives beyond tsunamis

Of all loved ones departed

---^--

By Pearldiver.

Copyright © 2012 - 2013 Pearldiver nzpol with all rights reserved.

The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was also partially destroyed by the tsunami waves that hit the coast. The damage resulted in a compete meltdown, as the majority of the cooling system was compromised throughout the earthquake, tsunami waves and further aftershocks that continued for weeks. Many of the staff of the plant continued to do all possible to repair and at the least, attempt to reduce the effects of fallout, all selflessly, at the expense of their own health.

Also prior to the Japanese earthquake, on 02/22/11 the New Zealand city of Christchurch had also been decimated by a huge earthquake. Over 250 people had lost their lives, including 28 Japanese citizens, many young students studying English. As a result of that disaster, the top Urban Search and Rescue team flew from Japan to New Zealand to provide much needed help in the search for victims. When the earthquake hit Japan in March, irrespective of their family and national ties to those of Sendai and coastal Japan, the Japanese Urban Search and Rescue volunteers refused to leave New Zealand, until they had completed the grisly job that they had in Christchurch.

In return, New Zealand's Urban Search and Rescue crews were dispatched with the returning Japanese team and a very special and sincere respect was forged between the two countries. The Urban Search and Rescue Teams throughout the world are highly trained heroes in every respect and that 'family' who are always the first professionals on the ground, anywhere in the world, must also be recognized and acknowledged within this tribute.

Never Give Up!

Copyright © 2012 - 2013 Pearldiver nzpol with all rights reserved.