The Land of Disaster
In Japan, we have suffered from many natural disasters in the past, for example, the Ise Bay Typhoon (1959), the heavy rain in Tanabata day (1974), and the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (1997). Each disaster caused serious damage and people who experienced the events recall them every year. Those who experienced this year’s disasters will be busy remembering them too because we had so many of them this summer — not only disasters, but also abnormal weather… this summer was extremely hot and many people suffered heat exhaustion.
On September 6th, two earthquakes occurred in the area of the Kii Peninsula and we worried that the expected big one might happen after them. Fortunately, it didn’t.
Now, many people in Niigata Prefecture are away from their own houses and staying at refuge centers. The big earthquakes which occurred in Niigata made it impossible for them to get on with their normal lives. Many houses were partially or completely destroyed and, what is worse, there was heavy rain after the earthquakes.
We also had “unusual” typhoons this year. The number of the typhoons that hit Japan is extraordinary, and most of them were very strong. Every year Japan is hit by two or three typhoons on average and they do damage to some extent. This year, however, we have had 10 typhoons so far. Each of them brought heavy rain to many parts of Japan and rivers flooded in some areas.
The Miya River near my house was about to overflow and I felt scared of the flood (and the typhoon) for the first time in my life. The rainstorms caused mudslides and people in some mountainous areas are still in the refuges.
It is expected that a big earthquake will occur in Tokai district in the near future. I wonder what will become of Japan and my life if this earthquake should in fact occur. I can’t help thinking that there is nothing that remains forever: I may lose what I have now, including my possessions and… family, relatives and friends.
I feel sorry for the victims and the bereaved of this year’s disasters and I just hope that the next year will be more peaceful without any disasters.
Comments
Masatoshi Iwashita :: November 2, 2004
Yes, I think so too. Japan has much more earthquakes, rounded by four plate, but this year, too many! So do typhoons. I think instinctly that the effect of global warming is one of the reasons. If it is true, it is very frightening, isn’t it? I thought I should try to reduce comsumption.
Hi Takuya and Masatoshi — welcome to Tawawa! Are you both in Tokyo?
Yukiko — I was a bit surprised by the Free Republic link. Is that a site you read regularly or did it just come up in a search for the expected big earthquake?
I’ve just bunched together a few typhoon-related photos taken recently.
This has been a strange year for weather, hasn’t it? In Florida, where I’ve lived for the past 9 years, we had 4 major hurricanes hit us this year alone. In the 9 years I have lived here, there has only been one other hurricane. The damage around our area was tremendous (caused by high winds more than rain). Luckily, we only had to deal with tree debris and a few missing shingles. Many people were much worse off than we were. You can look at some of the damage around our neighborhood here.
>Is that a site you read regularly or did it just come up in a search for the expected big earthquake?
When I was looking for the site about the earthquake, I came across that page by chance.
I saw TV news programs about the hurricanes in Florida. People were leaving Florida and there were long lines of people at gas stations. Though America is far from Japan geographically, I felt sympathy for the people in Florida.
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Yes. As you say, Japenese climate this year is terrible. Too hot summer, changable weather, tyhoons, and big earthquakes. Last year my dorm friend told me that a very very big earthquake would occur in the middle of September here in Tokyo, his professor said. Actually it didn’t. But it’s true that Tokyo is in danger of suffering from a big one as well as Tokai area. So it’s necessary to prepare for a natural disaster in everyday life.