Re: Japan - Major Earthquake Magnitude 9.0 on Mar 11, Sanriku Oki (7.2 on March 9) - Official number of dead and missing 12,000+
Re: Japan - Major Earthquake Magnitude 9.0 on Mar 11, Sanriku Oki (7.2 on March 9) - Official number of dead and missing 12,000+
No time for tears: Japanese begin grim task of burying hundreds of earthquake victims in mass graves.
As a country they pride themselves on dignity and honour, on saving face and showing respect.
But there will be few of those attributes on display
tomorrow morning when Japan lines mass graves with hundreds of its dead - victims of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.
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A once popular ten-pin bowling alley that would have echoed to the sound of laughter and falling skittles as Japanese families enjoyed a favourite weekend pastime was used as a make-shift morgue.
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For tens of thousands of survivors in one of the wealthiest nations on earth, meanwhile,
Japan has effectively become a Third World country.
Accustomed to living in homes equipped with every mod-con and hi-tech gadget, driving nice cars and dining well, they now subsist on meager rations in freezing school halls and gyms.
The shelter in the sports hall at Tatekoshi Elementary School, in Natori, is typical of hundreds all along the tsunami-hit coast. Here, no less than 272 men, women and children are somehow encamped on the floor.
With no mattresses or sleeping bags, even the very old and infirm must sleep on blankets laid on the polished wooden boards.
Any salvaged belongings are kept beside them in cardboard boxes.
They queue patiently for meal packs, and to wash with cold water, in sinks in the children’s toilets. They hang their washing on the gym’s parallel bars.
When the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, in New Orleans, were similarly corralled in the football stadium, anarchy erupted.
There was widespread looting, women were sexually assaulted, the conditions quickly became dangerously unsanitary, and it was every man for himself.
What a contrast with the scene here.
The adults form social groups, sharing what they have, keep their squares of the floor spotlessly clean, and fold everything away neatly, while the children play harmoniously.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rave-countrys-major-burial.html#ixzz1HGdglfte
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