Text & thoughts from Tokyo, Part 2
Posted March 11, 2011 6:22 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Edward Cassidy, a Toronto man, has a brother, Roger, living in Tokyo.
Roger has been updating Edward via text.
Roger sent 680News the following message:
“I’m feeling pretty physically drained.
It’s starting to take an emotional toll too. Not so up for writing much actually.
Though 387 km from epicenter here in Tokyo, and thus, spared the destruction, it’s still far too “close to home”.
Just fired off this note to my brother, for what it’s worth, by way of a little update.
Work again tomorrow. Power outages apparently expected tomorrow (Mon.) in several places in Tokyo.
It’s all very saddening, this disaster.”
Sent: Sunday March 13, 2011
Roger (in Tokyo) sent the following message to his brother:
“Hey Edward,
Just watching live images of the devastation in Sendai. Tremendous destruction and countless deaths. 9,500 of 18,000 people are MISSING in Minami Sanriku, near the epicenter, and as far as 3.3km from the coast! There was an overturned BOAT behind the reporter.
Life in Tokyo fairly normal apart from aftershocks, and lack of water, rice, ready-made food items in convenience stores/supermarkets. Thank God Spring has literally just sprung. This will lessen the suffering somewhat for those people in badly afflicted areas, and likely make the search and rescue efforts comparatively easier.
We were so distant from the tsunami in Thailand. That was sad. But, this one is hitting much harder/closer to home. The new images coming in are becoming hard to watch.
Anyone in Japan would be jittery, emotional seeing these.
Now two nuclear reactors, one official said, may or have already experienced meltdown.
If so, they’ll be permanently taken off line, never to be used again.
Multiple security measures to prevent radiation entering the soil or the atmosphere, but, the implications are frightening for people close to the nuclear plant. Can only pray that that doesn’t happen. IF it goes into the atmosphere, and IF it subsequently rain, (aka black rain), then radiation could fall on people’s skin in the form of raindrops. Wind/radial distance from the plant also factors. Thousands being evacuated within a 20Km radius.
Rog.”
