April 13, 2011
The Tobu District Committee of the Japanese Communist Party in Miyagi Prefecture was responsible for coordinating JCP activities in Ishinomaki City, Kesennuma City, Tome City, Higashi Matsusima City, Onagawa Town, and Minamisanriku Town. All are still suffering from the catastrophic damage.
Many JCP members there are also sufferers themselves, but by sharing in residents’ grief, they have resolved to start over again in leading efforts to restore people’s lives.
The massive tsunami destroyed their communities. The building of the JCP committee was destroyed, and nine JCP members, including a committee member, in the Tobu District died and two are still missing.
On April 9, the JCP Tobu District Committee managed to hold a meeting at a makeshift office for the first time since the quake.
A committee member who lost her house, her mother, and her younger brother and his wife in the tsunami came to the meeting. “I really wanted to see you all again,” she said in tears.
A member in Kesennuma City reported that the JCP city committee building was flooded to just below the roof level in the tsunami but the committee is now resuming its activities with help from nearby JCP committees.
JCP member of the Onagawa Town Assembly Takano Hiroshi said, “My house was swept away by the tsunami, too. But it’s even more difficult for me to accept the truth that I lost many people I cared about, decades-long Akahata readers, and my supporters.” He said that he is listening to what the townspeople say they need and handing out a JCP-made guide to assistance programs they can apply for.
Mizusawa Fujie, JCP member of the Ishinomaki City Assembly, said that she is taking care of two evacuees at her house and that she is delivering relief goods to other sufferers.
Abe Ritsuko, JCP member of the Onagawa Town Assembly, said that she is delivering an easy-to-read newsletter that provides essential information to the victims.
Many Akahata readers in the Tobu District died and the Akahata delivery network there still remains cut off. A member, who was in charge of Akahata delivery, said, “But when I contacted the Akahata readers, three answered immediately that they will subscribe to Akahata again. I want to rebuild the delivery system as soon as possible.”
Many JCP members there are also sufferers themselves, but by sharing in residents’ grief, they have resolved to start over again in leading efforts to restore people’s lives.
The massive tsunami destroyed their communities. The building of the JCP committee was destroyed, and nine JCP members, including a committee member, in the Tobu District died and two are still missing.
On April 9, the JCP Tobu District Committee managed to hold a meeting at a makeshift office for the first time since the quake.
A committee member who lost her house, her mother, and her younger brother and his wife in the tsunami came to the meeting. “I really wanted to see you all again,” she said in tears.
A member in Kesennuma City reported that the JCP city committee building was flooded to just below the roof level in the tsunami but the committee is now resuming its activities with help from nearby JCP committees.
JCP member of the Onagawa Town Assembly Takano Hiroshi said, “My house was swept away by the tsunami, too. But it’s even more difficult for me to accept the truth that I lost many people I cared about, decades-long Akahata readers, and my supporters.” He said that he is listening to what the townspeople say they need and handing out a JCP-made guide to assistance programs they can apply for.
Mizusawa Fujie, JCP member of the Ishinomaki City Assembly, said that she is taking care of two evacuees at her house and that she is delivering relief goods to other sufferers.
Abe Ritsuko, JCP member of the Onagawa Town Assembly, said that she is delivering an easy-to-read newsletter that provides essential information to the victims.
Many Akahata readers in the Tobu District died and the Akahata delivery network there still remains cut off. A member, who was in charge of Akahata delivery, said, “But when I contacted the Akahata readers, three answered immediately that they will subscribe to Akahata again. I want to rebuild the delivery system as soon as possible.”
