In just four weeks, the 2:46 Quakebook project has turned an idea first voiced in a single tweet, into a rich collection of essays, artwork and photographs submitted by individuals around the world, including people who endured the disaster and journalists who covered it. The tweets were compiled into a book, extracts of which we now publish here.
We are not alone. March 11, 2011. The day the world changed entirely. We all recall in vivid detail the shock, the sadness, the fear and the uncertainty. The scale of the disaster was unprecedented. The sadness we feel for the lives lost and all that was swept away will never fade. We have a responsibility to remember. As long as we do, those who are gone will remain alive in our hearts. I was lost for words when I visited the disaster areas of Ishinomaki, Onagawa, and Sendai. The damage was simply too great. I walked around Iitate, a village that is now being evacuated. In the face of a situation so grave that it threatened to chill me to the core, I realised how vital it is that we share each other’s warmth. We must move forward. We must share our stories. We must help one another. What we need most at the moment is to listen to the voices that well up like sighs from deep within our fellow human beings.
Quakebook brings together the myriad voices of a multitude. The road ahead may be filled with challenges, but how wonderful to know that we do not face them alone. Kenichiro Mogi Tokyo, May 2011