May 2011 - Subud Voice

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