Today Elaine went out through the neighborhood. Later we both went out through our neighborhood to prayer walk, talk to people, and scout out the effects of the greatest earthquake to hit our area.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE
We saw some damage to the roof of a local soba restaurant. Apparently they lost some traditional Japanese roofing tiles. In walking through a neighboring apartment complex we noticed large numbers of garbage bags with many broken dishes and kitchen items. We could imagine the amount of damage to each home as items were thrown to the floor. We lost a few things but nothing major.
SHORTAGES
We went into a few stores to see the situation and look for a few things. At one small electrical shop I poked my head in the door and asked if they have any batteries. As expected she said no but also said they would have some on Wednesday. At the nearby 7-11 the shelves were cleared bare. But the manager assured us that he was expecting a delivery of lunch boxes sometime in the evening. He said we were only about 70-80% paralyzed. The saddest scene was a concerned father as there were not the diapers in the size he was looking for. He was probably on his cell phone with her discussing options. We talked about the difficulties in the current situation.
PEOPLE TRYING TO GET BY
People in the neighborhood have needs we know they are struggling like us and have many emotional needs. I helped an older woman walk home leaded down with about 5 bags of groceries. As she was elderly she was very overburdened to get some groceries home. No problem walking the two blocks and helping her home.
Our neighborhood was eerily quiet and as we were heading home we decided to ring the doorbell of some nice elderly friends and check up on them. She was so delighted we came by. She was smiling from ear to ear. We checked on her supplies of water, food, batteries etc. as we have been anticipating a blackout. Things were fine so we gave her God’s blessing. I have seen very humble bows in Japan and as we left I saw one of the humblest ever. Tomorrow we hope to bless more.