RIKUZENTAKATA The Recovery Continues
Mayor Futoshi Toba addresses the press text by
photos from
Alison Dacia Brown Rikuzentakata ALT, 2005–2008
Rikuzentakata City Facebook Page (with permission)
I
t has been almost a year since my last article about Rikuzentakata. This is the third and it will not be the last. There has been a lot to report, both good and bad, and as I want to end this article on a positive note, I will start with the challenges that the people of Rikuzentakata are currently facing. Let’s start with housing.
living in it for such a long time is causing depression in some residents. It has been almost two years since the tsunami, and all this time has allowed the reality of the tragedy to really sink in. You can imagine the frustration that people are experiencing when recovery is taking so long to happen. Each day spent in temporary housing is another reminder of what happened on March 11, 2011. This is further compounded by bureaucracy. Federal funds allocated to Rikuzentakata are simply astounding but when the city tries to use the funds, there are barriers. Bureaucrats say “no,” outlining conditions and stipulations. This is incredibly frustrating for the city as politicians who have never been to Rikuzentakata are deciding what can and cannot be done with the money. Unfortunately, this is a reality. Fortunately, I have hope that this will change.
First of all, many of us know that when after the tsunami occurred, residents who were able to escape the waves suddenly had to call schools and community centres their new homes. We all saw footage of thousands of residents, suddenly crammed together sharing gymnasium floors, trying to keep warm, Now the Ipponmatsu, or the Many people are still in temporary housing “MiracleTree.” In my first artiand dealing with the horand although this was an important step rific shock of not only losing cle I talked about it briefly. The family but also their homes. gorgeous Takata-Matsubara in getting people out of the shelters, the Temporary housing was put beach was lined with thoucontinued reliance on this housing is up within months, which was sands of slender yet majestic presenting its own challenges able to move people out of pine trees. My research indithe shelters. Many people are cates about 70,000. Only one still in temporary housing and although this was an important survived, which was aptly named The Miracle Tree, a symbol step in getting people out of the shelters, the continued reli- of hope and miracles since March 2011. Just four months ago ance on this housing is presenting its own challenges mainly in September, the tree was cut down. The tree was not able to because temporary housing is small. This cannot be helped and survive the salt water that seeped into the soil around it, as the
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