Kesennuma's Struggle for Its Recovery from Tsunami

During my 10-day homecoming trip to Japan, I visited Kesennuma City in the Tohoku region, which was severely damaged by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last March.  Eighteen months have passed since the nightmare, but the recovery process has been slower than people had expected. 

Kesennuma is one of many Japanese cities where people have closely lived together with the sea since ancient times.  Facing the Pacific Ocean, Kesennuma is one of Japan’s major fishing ports.  It is famous for shark fins, Pacific sauries, bonitos and tunas, and fishery has been the city’s core industry.  

The sea, however, provides harm as well as blessings.  The tsunami took away more than 1,000 lives of Kesennuma’s citizens.  Fishermen lost their boats, without which they cannot make their living.  Waves wiped out buildings, leaving a bare land as if nothing had stood there before. 

Recovery has been painfully slow.  True, the level of a catch is recovering, and as the fishery recovers, the city is slowly coming back to life.  However, there remain a number of abandoned buildings and debris around the city center.  Most of the shops and restaurants are still operating in prefabricated buildings.  The scars of last year’s earthquake and tsunami can be seen everywhere.

Slow city planning is allegedly one of the factors that are causing a delay in recovery.  One of the local leaders told me that even if people own lands, they cannot build buildings until the city decides where to embark and where to raise the level of land.  Thus, people’s lives are still on hold after 18 months have passed since the disaster.

City planning has been taking time partly because some crucial agendas are highly contentious.  For example, construction of tide embankments has become the hottest agenda in Kesennuma.  “Building tide embankments is a nonsense.  Embankments cannot fully protect us.  Rather, many people will die if we cannot see whether the water is receding or not because of the structure,” a local fisherman said.  This claim has some points.  Coastal residents have gained wisdom to communicate with the water, and a number of people actually escaped death last year as they quickly responded to the receding water.  At the same time, however, it is also true that some residents living in other areas prefer to have embankments.  What this suggests is that each area has different needs and challenges and that a recovery plan may need to differ across sections.

Recovery cannot be achieved without a close communication with citizens.  Local people know their land better than anyone else, and bottom-up inputs are vital to ensure a successful recovery.  Although it has been taking time, I believe it will not be a distant future to see a lively Kesennuma, as the citizens of Kesennuma are full of eagerness to recover from the disaster and to revitalize their hometown.  As local posters say, “We will recover unless we surrender.”

The Japan Training Squadron Visits Tanzania and Seychelles

I had a great privilege to join the training squadron of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) from Tanzania to Seychelles as an interpreter.  The JMSDF has been dispatching a training squadron annually since 1956 in order to increase junior officers’ maritime experience, and this year’s voyage marks the 56th.  Taking government’s policies and diplomatic events into account, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense choose training squadron’s navigation course from five options: an around-the-world course, a Pan-Pacific course, a North and South America course, a South East Asia course, and the Indian Ocean course.  This year, the Japanese government chose the Indian Ocean course, and the squadron is to visit 14 countries  (15 stops) in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.   

The training squadron, which consists of three ships, a flagship and a training vessel KASHIMA (standard displacement: 4,050 ton), a training vessel SHIMAYUKI (3,050 ton), and an escort squadron MATSUYUKI (3,050 ton), left Japan on May 22nd.  A crew of about 750 is onboard, including 195 junior officers who have just graduated from the Staff College.  Two third of the voyage has been completed, and the squadron has so far visited 9 ports across the world: Manila, Bangkok, Mumbai, Male, Djibouti, Jidda, Mar Maris, Djibouti, Dar es Salaam, and Victoria.  At each stop, members of the crew conducted good-will activities to strengthen friendly relations between Japan and the countries visited.

I boarded KASHIMA at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on August 17th.  The ship looks huge from outside, but the inside was much smaller than I had expected (In fact, I hit my head three times with steel pipes).  Unfortunately I was not blessed with good weather, and the sea was extremely rough during my voyage.  My suitcase rolled and crushed from one side to another, and it did not take long for me to get seasick.  The Japanese food served on KASHIMA was very nice, especially because I have not gone back to Japan for more than two years, but I was so sick that I had to miss five meals during my 6-day voyage. 

The squadron reached Victoria, the capital of the Republic of Seychelles, on 22nd.  After the arrival at the port, I started my job as an interpreter of Rear Admiral Fuchinoue, the Commander of the training squadron.  Rear Admiral’s schedule was tight, as the squadron stayed in Seychelles for only four days.  On the first day, a big ceremony was held to welcome the squadron’s visit.  After the ceremony, the Rear Admiral held a luncheon with the first president of Seychelles and other distinguished guests, which was followed by a press meeting with Ambassador Takata.  On the second day, the Rear Admiral paid courtesy calls on the Vice President and the Minister for Internal Affairs, and at night, he hosted a fantastic reception on KASHIMA.  Around 200 guests came to the reception, and they were all fascinated with the Japanese food served by the crew of KASHIMA.  The crew also conducted good-will activities such as a music concert by the squadron’s brass band, which was applauded by a local newspaper as the best concert ever held in Seychelles.  On 24th, the day before the squadron’s departure, the Foreign Minister kindly hosted a reception at the seaside hotel, and the crew enjoyed food and local dances.   I truly enjoyed interpreting on each of the eight occasions, including the Rear Admiral’s impromptu speech at the last night’s reception, as Rear Admiral Fuchinoue had a good sense of humor.  Thanks to his personality, I truly enjoyed working with him, and it was a great honor to serve as his interpreter.

The voyage from Tanzania to Seychelles together with leading figures and promising young officers of the JMSDF was a marvelous experience for me.  I was able to deepen my understanding on the JMSDF and Japan’s maritime defense, and this voyage will no doubt become an asset for my future career.  I wish all the best to each and every member of the crew for the rest of the voyage, and I am sure the squadron will leave happy memories with local people at each stop.  The squadron’s voyage will continue for two more months, and the three vessels will come back to the Harumi port in Tokyo on October 22nd.  Bon voyage!

Japan-funded Disaster Management Course at the PKO training center in Kenya

I attended a closing ceremony for the disaster management course at the International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC) in Nairobi.  The IPSTC is one of the most prominent PKO training centers in Africa, and Japan has been assisting training programs at the center.  This Japan-funded disaster management course was a 10-day program for both military personnel and civilians who are engaged in disaster relief operations in Kenya.  The Government of Japan sent a course facilitator from the Japan Ground Self Defense Force, and the course was rated highly by the 25 Kenyan participants. 

  

Remarks on the occasion of the closing ceremony for IPSTC's Disaster Management Course (10th Aug, 2012)

[Greetings omitted]

Distinguished Participants,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon.

It is my honour to attend this closing ceremony of the Disaster Management Course today.  I would like to convey our cordial congratulations to the 25 participants from 19 organizations for your achievement through this course.  I would also like to express our gratitude to the Government of Kenya, IPSTC, UNDP, and JCCP for their dedication and commitment, which have led this course to a success.

As you all know, last March, Japan was hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake, which recorded a magnitude of 9.0.  This earthquake and the tsunami that followed took away nearly 16,000 lives, while 6,000 got injured and 3,000 are still missing.  More than 70,000 evacuated, and many people still cannot go back to where they used to live.  It was such a heartbreaking and devastating event, but the result could have been even worse without the brave dedication of Japan’s Self Defence Forces, Police officers, fire fighters, and other people who devoted themselves to disaster management and relief operations.  These people removed rubble day and night restlessly.  They managed to transfer injured people despite impassable roads.  And we will never forget the determined men and women who continued sending alarms to let coastal people evacuate until a wave swallowed them.  Indeed, every time Japanese people encounter a major disaster, the reputation of disaster management professionals has increased, and this is one indicator of how capable and skillful Japan’s disaster management teams are.

Japan is a disaster-prone country, and we often lose precious lives in front of the power of nature.  However, we do not just cry over our loss but we learn from tragedies, and we better prepare ourselves against future incidences.  Thus, Japan has become the most prominent country in the field of disaster management with rich knowledge and experience to share.  The Japanese Ground Self Defence Force has contributed in many international disaster management operations, including the ones in Haiti and Indonesia.  And we think that it is our duty as well as our pleasure to share what we have with other countries to prevent and mitigate the damage of disaster. 

With this regard, we are pleased to provide this Disaster Management Course at the IPSTC to the participants like you who are to become leading figures of disaster management in your country.  This course is the 5th course to be financed under Japan’s funding for the Phase II project at the IPSTC, and for the first time, we sent a lecturer from the Ministry of Defence to the IPSTC.  As you know, one of your instructors, Col. Ishibashi is Director of the Japan Peacekeeping Training and Research Center, a Japanese organization similar to the IPSTC.  I am sure you all enjoyed Col. Ishibashi’s course on case studies of Haiti and Indonesia.

Through the 10-day course, which ends today, I believe that you have acquired practical skills that will enable you to contribute to disaster management initiatives.  I also believe that you will share what you have learned here with your colleagues.

In closing my remarks, I wish all the best for each and every participant for your work in a respective position.

My Trip to Somalia

The destination of my first business trip since my assignment to Kenya was Somalia.  The Japanese government’s oversea safety website has maintained its evacuation advisory to the whole area of Somalia for four years.  Thus, were it not for official duty, I would not have been able to travel to Mogadishu.  

I took a UN flight to attend a security conference held inside the Aden Abdulle International Airport, which is also known as the Mogadishu Airport.  Although the service at the airport was disrupted due to the civil war, the operation resumed as the security situation improved in 2010.  A Dubai-based aviation firm provided technical support for security check, and the Turkish government has assisted renovation of the airport.  It is actually one of the most protected places in Somalia, where the threat of Al Shabaab remains.  This is why international conferences are usually held here.  Inside the airport, UN and AU officials were busy running from one place to another with their bulletproof jackets on.  

Although it was a pity that I could not go outside the airport because of security concerns, I was at least glad to land on Mogadishu at the time when Somalia was going through a dramatic change.  Somalia is now in the middle of political transition, as the term of the transitional federal government is to end by 20th August.  A new provisional constitution was approved overwhelmingly at the beginning of this month, and the presidential election is scheduled on 20th.  

According to those who visited the center of Mogadishu recently, the city is gradually regaining its stability. Children can now play outside.  Stores are replacing bullet-holed windows with new ones, and brand-new signs are adding colors to the local streets.  However, Al Shabaab remains active especially in the southern part of Somalia, and the flow of arms from Yemen and Eritrea to Shabaab-controlled areas continues.

After the conference, the UN flight took off for Nairobi without much delay.  The plane made a 90-degree turn immediately after the take off in order not to get into a terrorists’ missile range.  After a two-hour flight, the plane came back to the densely populated city of Nairobi right after the sunset.   Despite the short flying distance, the trip to Mogadishu provided me with quite a different experience from the one in Nairobi.

Matatu – the most representative symbol of Kenya’s transportation

Nairobi’s traffic jam is a nightmare.  If you get stuck, it’s better to accept your bad luck and lay back on your seat.  A 30-minute commuting suddenly changes into a 2-hour suffering.  The bad part of the traffic jam here is its unpredictability: no one knows which road is going to stop moving today at what time.  The worst time is the commuting hours in the morning (7-9am) and at night (6-8pm), but car horns fill streets almost all day.

One of the major causes for Nairobi’s heavy traffic is the lack of public transportation.  As there are no public buses or trains, many people commute with cars (TOYOTA is most popular).  Car ownership has increased dramatically in the past few years, and now households with more than 2 cars have become common in Nairobi.  But still, not all family members own a car, and there are quite a few households without any single car (According to the 2008-09 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, only 17% of the households in urban areas had a car.).  Thus Matatu, the most representative symbol of local transportation, becomes an essential part of life in Kenya.

Matatu is a privately owned bus, usually by high-ranking officials of the Kenya Police.  Owners lease vehicles to individuals, and individuals receive income based on the number of passengers they carried.  The payment system is designed in such a way that lessees have high incentives to increase passengers even by breaking the law.  For example, many Matatus stop at places other than bus stops.  Moreover, the fee is not stable, and drivers decide the price based on that day’s demand to maximize the profit.  The Matatu fee used to be stable when there was a public transportation.  However, as there is no longer any public transportation, drivers have higher bargaining power over the price than passengers.  Price increase on rainy days is a good example.

Although Matatu is owned by big men at the police most of the time, there is a huge conflict between police officers and Matatu drivers.  Officers stop and arrest quite a few drivers every day; for example, more than hundred Matatu drivers get arrested within an hour in the morning at an intersection near my office.  Drivers pay around Ksh 500-1000 (equivalent to earnings from 5-10 passengers) per arrest so that the police would let them go.  Of course Matatu drivers are to blame to some extent, as they do not follow traffic rules.  However, corruption of the police is a huge elephant in the room.  The money collected from Matatu drivers go directly into the pockets of police officers.  Frustration of Matatu drivers often culminates in strikes, just like yesterday (11^th July).

Matatu embodies Kenya’s social problems such as inequality, market failure, and corruption.  Those who use Matatu tend to be poor and socially marginalized, and the inequality is a critical problem in Kenya.  Market failure creates a huge negative externality (i.e. traffic jam and pollution), and government intervention may be necessary.  The police is said to be the most corrupt organization in Kenya, and people’s trust towards police officers is even lower than politicians.  Matatu – what an interesting thing to study.

Illicit Small Arms and Pre-/Post-Election Security in Kenya

Security concerns towards the upcoming election are now growing in Kenya, which lost more than 1,000 lives after the previous 2007-2008 election crisis.  The unsettled boundaries for electoral areas can cause the pre-election calamity in places where resource and tribal distribution may change depending on how the line were to be drawn.  Terrorist attacks have been aggravating the situation.  In the past three weeks, three terrorist attacks hit Kenya.  On June 24^th, a bar in Mombasa was attacked by grenades, killing three and sending more than thirty people to the hospital.  Seventeen were killed and nearly 70 were injured in the attacks last Sunday at two churches in Garissa, a small town close to the border with Somalia. 

According to the 2011 survey, election is the time when people feel most unsafe.  In fact, the 2007-2008 post-election mayhem killed 1,133 people (according to the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence) and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.  Supporters of the current Prime Minister Odinga claimed manipulation, and they crashed against the current president Kibaki’s supporters.  The controversy developed into a tribal conflict, turning the Kenyan soil into a bloody battlefield. 

Such concerns have been feeding a steady demand for small arms.  According to the Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons (KNFP), the most conservative estimate of households with illicit arms is around 170,000-210,000, while it says that the number can increase up to 530,000-680,000.  As some households own more than two, the total number of illicit arms in Kenya is likely to be much higher.  These illicit arms are smuggled from neighboring countries both from the sea and the land.  Although the border control is high on Kenya’s agenda, the government may need to address not only the supply side but also the demand side because arms trafficking will continue as long as there is a demand.  Some reports show a decrease in people’s safety perception scores after disarmament, which reflects people’s reluctance to give up small arms as means of self-protection.  Ironically, possessing arms from security concerns often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Although no one can guarantee that the tragedy of the previous election will not be repeated, there is a ground of optimism.  The Kenyan government together with international partners has been trying to prepare against the worst-case scenario.  For example, police trainings, public awareness-raising campaigns, and arms registration have been taking place across the country.  If the Kenyan government can show that it can protect its citizens, the demand for small arms, which are encouraging arms trafficking, may decrease eventually.  The Kenyan government and its international partners need to keep a close eye on developments and to prepare themselves against any possible pre- and post- election security deterioration. 

HIV/AIDS in the Mukuru Slum

Health conditions in a densely populated slum are alarming.  A small outbreak will spread like a wild fire, and thus easily turn into an epidemic.  HIV/AIDS is one of such examples.  Although there is no statistics specific to the Mukuru slum, the HIV prevalence is estimated to be above 10 percent, which is much higher than the prevalence at the national level (6.8%) and in Nairobi (7.9%).  The major risk groups in the slum are sex workers, MSM (men who have sex with men), truck drivers, and IDUs (injecting drug users).

Many social factors are contributing to Mukuru’s high HIV prevalence.  A significant underlying factor is poverty.  Due to their low income level and high income volatility, many women (including widows and single mothers) provide sex for a meal.  Truck drivers who drive in and out of the industrial area where the Mukuru slum is located work in poor conditions and spend many days away from home, thus become tempted to have sex with commercial sex workers along the way.  Unprotected sex and injecting drug use spread the virus across the community, where the web of human interaction is dense.

The first step to treat the disease is to know HIV status.  The Kenyan government is aiming to test 80 percent of the whole population by 2013.  In Nairobi, you can find HIV testing centers in every corner.  People regard HIV testing as part of their health check-ups, and they are not afraid of being seen in a line in front of testing centers.  But this is not what it is in every part of Kenya.  There are some rural areas where stigma continues to rear its ugly face.  One health worker who works in a remote area told me that people ask her to call their mobiles so that they can visit the center when no one is around.  She added that they only use the back door. 

Although stigma against HIV/AIDS is now low in Mukuru, it is not a long time ago when people with HIV in Mukuru were afraid of isolation.  People misunderstood the disease, and the HIV positives were reluctant to disclose their status to their partners.  With counseling and awareness-raising campaigns, people in Mukuru started to correct their misconceptions about HIV/AIDS.  Importantly, those who are living with HIV started to share their stories with others.  Besty (she chose this nickname as it means “best friend”) is one of the HIV positives who have been courageously speaking about their own experience.  I asked her what made her decide to break the silence, which must have required a lot of courage and determination.  She told me that counseling helped her understand that HIV is treatable (although not curable). “And I gradually increased my confidence,” she said.

Stories shared by people like Besty have significant impact on people’s behaviors.  People become more confortable discussing HIV/AIDS in public, and more people visit testing centers.  People become more aware of the necessity of HIV prevention such as condom use.  A real example like Besty is more convincing than plain documents or statistics for people to take action, and interactive programs at community level will be effective.

[This piece is based on interviews with NGO workers, community workers, and dwellers during my visit to the Mukuru slum on June 30th.]