Operation Blessing teams headed to the island of Katsurajima for an eye clinic.

Report from the field: OBI teams share their firsthand, eye-witness accounts of the relief efforts in Japan

SHIOGAMA, Japan – Today was the start of another series of eye clinics in Shiogama City. This time we went to three of the Urato Islands. Our team left the marine gate at Shiogama Port on a small diesel-powered ferry, and headed across choppy waters to the first island of Katsurajima.

It is the largest of the four islands—about 4 miles offshore—in the Matsushima Bay. When we arrived, we were greeted by a familiar face. Mr. Chiba, the chairman of the fishermen’s guild, had his men help us move our equipment to the evacuation center that had been set up in a middle school on the top of a hill.

Our trip to the center involved passing through an area that had been devastated by the tsunami. Houses and seaweed processing centers were in ruins, strewn in a jumble on both sides of our path.

Twenty industrial grade generators that were made to specification at Power Tech in the United States have been transported to Shiogama and presented to the mayor.

One of the visitors to the clinic was Mr. Uchimi, a seaweed grower who had lost everything. He showed us where his house formerly stood, and when asked where his house had ended up, he pointed to the open sea. He said that it was out there somewhere, nowhere to be seen.

Mr. Uchimi was able to show us his seaweed processing machine, which had been ditched about 50 feet away from his property in one direction, and his refrigeration system, which had been moved another 30 feet in the opposite direction. Tomorrow, we head to the Island of Nonoshima for another clinic.

Operation Blessing also formally delivered 20 industrial grade generators to the Mayor of Shiogama today. They will be used on the Urato Islands, which are a part of the City of Shiogama. On behalf of the people of Shiogama and the residents of the Urato Islands, the mayor—Mr. Akira Satoh—expressed a deep appreciation for this donation of equipment. The generators, currently being prepped for transport by boat, will bring back electricity to the islands for their evacuation centers, homes and the fishing industry.

Mr. Satoh also thanked Operation Blessing for encouraging the fishermen on the islands, many of whom had lost everything and given up hope of ever fishing again. Operation Blessing pledged to continue to support the islanders in their recovery efforts.

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