Dear Friends 5 July
It was on March 18th that I posted the first report "From Sendai".
The first 7 days after the earthquake were chaos for me.
I have many which I remember and I have many which I don't remember.
As I already wrote, I was in front of my computer when the earthquake occured.
Because the building suddenly began to quake, I dashed out the building.
All around me continued to quake for the long time.
I heard the abnormal sound.
The stone wall next to me collapsed.
One of my seminar students run up to me.
We escaped to the evacuated site of college.
In front of the chapel, students and co-workers gathered together.
I tried to call my family but wasn't able to contact with my family.
I don't know how long I was there, but maybe for one hour.
And I didn't know how terrible this disaster was.
I decided to drive one of my co-workers to his home.
I saw one of the students of the dormitory.
Because the dormitory was the period of being closed, I decided to let him stay with my family.
If we had headed for my co-worker's home first, we might been caught by tsunami.
When we arrived at my home, my wife had me know that my second daughter Hanako was near the Sendai railroad station.
I headed for the downtown of Sendai together with my co-worker and my third daughter Eiko by car again.
My co-worker told me that this earthquake would be one of the worst earthquakes through the Japanese history.
But I didn't believe what he said.
The traffic was getting heavier.
We couldn't contact with Hanako.
I droped my co-worker off and escaped to the alley.
My third daughter got an email from Hanako.
Hanako was walking a few kilometers from Sendai station in the snow.
We picked her and her friend up.
We drove her friend near his apartment house.
He taught me that his hometown was Rikuzen Takata.
My wife's parents who live near my home were in the day-care center when the earthquake occured.
The staff drove them to their house soon.
When we gathered together, it got deeply dark.
We lighted the candles and listened to the news on the radio.
We carved up roast beef for dinner.
We didn't change our clothes.
The afterquakes struck fear in the heart of us.
And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day.
I got an email from one of my students yesterday.
He had anything urgent and he didn't attend the seminar.
Today I found him reading a book seriously.
It was the book about the meaning of life written by Paul Tournier.
He picked the book up from the book shelf of my laboratory.
He attended the funeral of his best friend yesterday.
His friend killed himself.
He dosen't know why his friend had to die.
We discussed our life.
Instead of this, I have a good news.
Mr. Kawabe sent me a photo of his family.
You can see it from the link below.
As I reported, he began to operate in a makeshift store.
They are moving to temporary housing in a few days.
His father (left side) looks young.
He is over eighthy years age.
I keep praying for him.
I hope the recovery from grief for my students.
Family2011/07/04
fromsendai
Shinji Nagashima
