May 2011 - Subud Voice

Five days after
A report written by Japan’s Chair, Dr. Masayuki Nagamine, five days after the mega-earthquake and ensuing
Tsunami on Friday March 11. Even in the Chiba suburb, next to Tokyo, where he lives, the infrastructure is still
disrupted....
March 11th: I was working at a hospital when the earthquake occurred. It was the biggest quake I ever experienced.
That evening, as the transport network was not working, I was stuck there overnight.
In Urayasu-city, where I live, there are problems related to too much water in the soil, as a result of Friday’s
massive quake. We have seen unusual sights like partly swollen land or the settling of houses etc.
My 10th-floor flat has turned into something like a jungle, littered with books and so on, my bookshelves having
fallen. I can hardly walk in it. As the water supply has been cut off in our building, I have to spend time carrying
water from another place, and can’t even take a bath. I am also without a flushing toilet, of course.
Further, as a result of the explosion of gas tanks in Chiba, the petrol shortage has become serious. On Tuesday, I got
only ten litres of fuel after waiting in line for two hours. Due to shortage of power, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power
Company) has instituted blackouts. Following this, Tokyo and its surrounding suburbs, divided into five groups, are
subject to rolling power cuts for periods of up to three hours.
I’m wondering how we can or could (I experienced it yesterday) manage to drive without accident, in heavy traffic
jams, even though there are no traffic signals (due to power cuts) and no police officers to direct traffic at
intersections. As train services have been also reduced as part of the power-saving efforts, it took me two and a half
hours to reach my hospital instead of forty minutes in normal times.
That is what I can tell you about my daily life, affected as it is by the earthquake and tsunami even in a city far away
from the epicenter. I think that the situation in the directly stricken areas, as well as the ongoing nuclear
crisis, is beyond anyone’s imagination. The difficulty I’m facing now is nothing comparing to what people in
devastated areas have experienced. In this time of ordeal, I can’t say what we can do to overcome this national
crisis. But I believe that the most essential thing is that we, all Japanese, without complaining of our daily
inconvenience, provide relief to the victims as much as possible and do our best to restore the regions severely damaged.
For more information about Christchurch and Japan, first hand reports and how you can help, see articles
in Subud Voice Extra on the home page www.subudvoice.org
It all comes back to the latihan
The WSA Executive Team sends a message for all those working
for Subud at all committee levels…
◆
Whilst speaking about her own role and explaining how it had come
about... and then about how the international helpers at the time after
Bapak’s passing had decided that Ibu would be called our Spiritual
Advisor... the following came up in Ibu’s talk in Semarang in March
2010.
“In fact at one time Bapak said.....the one who will replace me will
be congress, so whatever the International Subud Congress decides,
when all the members come together, that is what will replace Bapak
”
This does not mean WSC or the WSA Executive, but rather the
whole WSA, all member countries as represented at World Congress,
with the WSC and the executive simply carrying out the tasks in
between....
‘What a daunting responsibility’, it means that whenever we are all
Maya Korzybska, WSA Executive Vice-chair
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 6 MAY 2011