May 2011 - Subud Voice

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Japanese tsunami Arisa Ooi, Vice Committee Councillor of Subud Japan, writes that “no Subud members had serious trouble...” First of all, we would like to express our thanks for your prayers, warm comments and messages, and concern for us all and the Japanese people. Thanks to God, no Subud members had serious trouble. But as a nation, we are facing the most difficult time that we have ever experienced in recent years. Each one of us living far away from the epicenter is having some inconvenience in daily life, depending on the different conditions such as place, work, life style and so on. When the earthquake struck, I was working in a clinic in the Tokyo area, and we had to go out of the building. The ground, several hundred meters away from the place, was sort of floating back and forth, in a way that I had never experienced even in this earthquake prone country. Many people couldn’t get home as most trains stopped running. I came home the next day and found my room covered with hundreds of books and scattered piles of papers and fallen bookcases. I found that the water supply had stopped, and I could not buy any food in the small store, but finally I managed to get two bottles of drinking water after waiting 30 minutes in a queue. The next day, we had a big traffic jam and some people had to stay somewhere on the way. The most seriously affected are the casualties who were in the 200~300 km seaside area attacked by both the earthquake and the tsunami, and also those people who were living near a nuclear power plant. As Ichiro Nakamura, our Susila Dharma Chair, reported, all Subud members, including two families living near the epicenters, are safe, in spite of material damages …..Alhamdulillah….Alhamdulillah…. However, we, also, are very shocked as we learn the effects of this disaster as reported by the media. We have not yet fully discussed how we can support people in the devastated areas, as we are still in an uncertain situation. We hope we will be able to do something good for them, even though it may be just a small deed. Thank you again for your sincere prayers, we are very touched. ‘ ’ No one was prepared for an earthquake of this magnitude For anyone interested in what is going on *right now*, NHK (the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, roughly equivalent to the BBC in England and PBS in America) has a live feed in English available at : http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld SUBUD VOICE PAGE 4 MAY 2011
I feel almost guilty From Edward Wright... March 17th, Tokyo: I am personally so unaffected by the recent disasters here that I feel almost guilty admitting it, when so many around me are experiencing so much difficulty. On a personal note, I was living in the San Fernando Valley, in California, near the epicenter, when the magnitude 6.7 Northridge quake struck. It was unbelievably strong and did a great deal of damage. I hope never to experience such a thing again. This earthquake, however, was more than 100 times more powerful... utterly inconceivable to my mind. The magnitude of the quake is being attributed to a fault line about 500 km (300 miles) long slipping in at least three places simultaneously. Japan is a highly developed and earthquake-prone country which has an extensive infrastructure in place to deal with such disasters. That said, no one was prepared for an earthquake of this magnitude. (It was assumed that the largest earthquake likely to strike Japan was magnitude 8.0, 1/10th the power of this quake.) ‘ ’ we are still in an uncertain situation... For people in most of the quake stricken areas the situation is bad. Supplies have in many cases not yet arrived. There are food, water, heating and clothing shortages with night time temperatures dropping below freezing. The main problem seems to be that many areas are isolated due to infrastructure damage, and The impact of the tsunami on the north-east coast of Japan on March 11 further there is a fuel (gasoline) shortage making it difficult for emergency and relief vehicles to reach the areas. It is an ongoing situation at this time, but it seems that progress is being made in bringing it under control. Although watching the news closely, I feel no sense of imminent danger. One additional note is that the prevailing winds are such that should there be any substantial release of radiation, it would be blown out to sea, rather than towards populated areas. Here in Tokyo, the earthquake was felt strongly, but there was very little damage and very few casualties. I would say the experience was roughly equivalent to what I felt in LA when we had a quake of around magnitude 5.0. On Friday, the day of the quake, all trains and subways stopped in Tokyo. Traffic was at a standstill. Taxis were unavailable, and the buses were jam-packed and not moving anyway. The cell network was also totally jammed and mobile phones were basically unusable. Land-lines were better, but still hit and miss. But by Saturday, many (if not most) of the trains were running again. Sunday, mobile phone service was partially restored. It seemed as if things were pretty much back to normal. In spite of the above, for me at least, life seems pretty normal. I have gas, power and water (and have experienced no interruptions. My area, considered to be "central Tokyo" has been exempted from the power blackouts, at least so far, as it is deemed critical to the national economy that business is not disrupted here.) Shops are open and operating as normal. I haven't had to go anywhere that I couldn't get to by bicycle, so the transportation situation has not affected me. Indeed, I have much to be grateful for. Note: Edward has been living in Japan nearly ten years and is now the assistant of Arisa Ooi, vice committee councillor for Subud Japan. SUBUD VOICE PAGE 5 MAY 2011
Page 1 and 2: ® In this issue Five Finger Exerci
Page 3: At the time of the meeting, we will
Page 7 and 8: together discussing things and maki
Page 9 and 10: from all over the world was positiv
Page 11 and 12: FAVOURITE PHOTOS Brighton Beach Ros
Page 13 and 14: ut it was a kind of initiation. Aft
Page 15 and 16: of people. It was my first contact
Page 17 and 18: that time it was still very remote
Page 19 and 20: New WSA accountant and bank account
Page 21 and 22: Youth update on two events Hello ag
Page 23 and 24: Changes at Subud Voice Harris Smart
Page 25: A D V E R T I S E M E N T S BAPAK

May 2011 - Subud Voice

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