Message Monday
Guest post by Chiaki Kawajiri
I was awoken by a friend’s phone call that day. “There was a big earthquake in Japan.”
I tried to find out where it originated, then called my family and friends.The phone lines didn’t work. I couldn’t get hold of anyone.
Next day, I was able to talk with my family and friends except two of my dear friends. One lived near the fire explosion, and the other lived in the closest town to where the earthquake originated. I kept calling all over the place and searched the web to find my friends, but he was nowhere to be found.
I cried for two days. On the third day, when my son came home from school, I asked him how his day went. "We studied about Tsunami today," he said, then stopped. When I asked why he stopped, he told me because the words "tsunami" and "earthquake" make me sad and cry.
With my son’s words, out of respect for the sufferers, I decided to stop crying and began constructing a simple, easy-to-navigate, to-the-point information website for Japanese. From thousands of miles away, that is the least I could do.
My strong desire to find my friends alive must have manifested itself in creating this site to help the victims of this Japan earthquake disaster. Then I heard from a friend who lives next to the explosion site. She watched the explosion from her window, but she was safe!
No words from my other friend. His town was under the water and completely destroyed. There were times when I thought I saw his name on the evacuation site’s list, but it was my tired eyes playing tricks on me, reading two separate names but conveniently putting them together. When tracing the names of those who died, my heart was frozen in the face of the possibility of seeing his name there. I have received a little piece of information that he might be alive, but it has not been confirmed.
As electricity slowly restored, the site with information to find missing friends expanded its purpose to help victims to find necessities such as water and food. Then I created message sites to send them words of encouragement and comfort, and the picture pages for children.
If anyone would like to send a comforting and encouraging message, here is how to write a message to Japanese people who were affected by the earthquake:
- First, visit the English translation of instructions for writing comments.
- Then please leave a message for earthquake victims.
- You can also leave a message for rescue workers. Many are victims themselves and risking their own lives to save others. And with the nuclear scare, more workers are sacrificing own safety to serve others.
You can also send pictures (regular copy paper size 8.5 by 11 in) to comfort and encourage children of Japan. Please scan or photograph each image, as many as you like, then email me at hopeforjapanesechildren(at)gmail.com
If you know anyone who would be interested, please share this message. Thank you.
Chiaki Kawajiri is an award-winning photojournalist whose work has appeared in Life Magazine, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Parade Magazine and books. She lives in Maryland with her husband and son.
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