Ishinomaki

I arrived in Ishinomaki city last Saturday.  I will be a volunteer physician for the Project HOPE’s medical relief team for the next two weeks.

Ishinomaki is one of the cities in northern Japan where the Tsunamis hit on March 11^th right after the M9.0 earthquake.

The city had a population of 160,000 prior to the Tsunami.  Over 40,000 people lost houses and were displaced to the shelters.  In addition, over 3,000 were confirmed dead and 2,770 are still missing.

Early yesterday morning, I visited the Tsunami affected areas in and around Ishinomaki.  Devastating, overwhelming, tragic…there is no single word that can appropriately describe the scene.

There are a chain of small towns and fishing villages spanning hundreds of miles along the coast line.  They have something in common: complete destruction and silence.  The only signs of life are seagulls and flies even over 100 days after the event.

The medical shelter I am working at is not situated in the area directly affected by Tsunamis.  It is a peaceful and quiet safe haven for the unfortunately affected.

I will report what I am doing here in my following blogs.  Until then…