Volunteers from Unilever Japan and the BCCJ dig ditches in Tohoku
The weather was hot and the work hard. Some broke the compacted tsunami mud with mattocks; some wrenched out stubborn bamboo roots with pickaxes; others poured earth into the sandbags that would eventually form the banks of the drainage channel.
When the signal for a break was given volunteers dropped their tools and took off their elbow-length gloves – then they poured out the sweat. No wonder each of the 40 volunteers from Unilever Japan and the British Chamber of Commerce had a four-litre daily water ration.
Almost exactly six months after the 3/11 disaster, I’d joined them to spend two days digging drainage ditches for a devastated fishing port in Miyagi prefecture. Yagawahama village once had a hundred houses, but only two were left standing after the tsunami. The water swept through the port and deep inland, covering everything in a thick layer of mud.
The village temple was one of the highest-lying buildings, around 500m inland and 30m above sea level, but even that was taken by the water. Only the stone steps of the temple, gateposts snapped at head height, and the graveyard were left. As a representative from NPO Peace Boat who oversaw the weekend’s work told us, no one yet knows when the surviving residents might come back to rebuild, but the site would be ready for them.
The group of Unilever employees of all ages and all levels of seniority had left by bullet train from Tokyo the day before. Thanks to a special “volunteer package”, they were able to stay in a hot-spring hotel in the tourist town of Matsushima.
Volunteers slept six or seven to a room, and the food was closer to that of a factory canteen than a tourist hotel: fried fish, pickles, miso soup, and rice in plastic bowls (breakfast was the same plus pickled plums and natto). About the only luxury was the hotel onsen, which had survived the earthquake and tsunami. It was a godsend for tired muscles after a day’s mud-shovelling.
To everyone’s obvious relief, the second day of volunteering was much cooler than the first, and with some help from a newly arrived group of Peace Boat volunteers the work progressed apace, leaving a little time to look around the valley where we were working.
A mangled fire engine sunk into the grass was a reminder of the tragedy. Nearby, where the temple’s main hall used to stand, was a portacabin. Photos from before 11 March were taped to its windows; the temple had been surprisingly large for a small village, with a fine garden. In an alcove flanking the road that approaches where the temple once stood, offerings had been left before a line of Buddhist Jizo statues that somehow survived the deluge. There were cans of soft drink, toy cars, an elementary schoolchild’s satchel.
Body and Soul
For one of the trip’s organisers, Dylan Scudder, this was his fifth journey to north-eastern Japan since the quake. As well as assisting with Unilever’s CSR activities he is studying for a PhD in the Human Security department of the University of Tokyo. He said that disaster recovery can be divided into three stages: emergency, relief and rebuilding. Arguably, Japan has now reached the third.
“Straight after the earthquake it was difficult to know what to do,” said volunteer Victor Hisao Misawa, head of Unilever’s brand development and marketing. But “within a few days, our global partners [WFP, UNICEF, Save the Children and Oxfam] came to Tohoku and started to inform us about specific needs in the disaster area.” he said.
Although the company promptly started matching donations and shipping products from the metropolitan area, they waited for the right time to organise a volunteer trip.
“We are not a professional rescue team,” said communications director Seikei Itoh. “If we came here totally unprepared, we might not be of much help. In addition, the initial rush of volunteers was expected to slow in a few months.
“Rather than rushing in, we wanted to provide help in the form of manpower when people really needed it”. When the company began to call for volunteers this summer, the response from employees was unequivocal. Organisers had hoped 25 people or so would participate but almost 40 signed up – from factory employees to sales and marketing to top management.
“[Volunteering] is good for the body and soul,” said Unilever CEO Ray Bremner. He hopes that there will be at least two more trips and intends to participate.
“Tomorrow is going to be completely boring, sitting at my desk with mouse and keyboard,” he added. “I’ll be longing for the mud and heat.”