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Cogitator Aug 31, 2011
James Jones, Photographer and Rotarian
VISITING ROTARIANS
Our frequent friend Ira Steinberg, from Oberlin, Ohio joined us. (I think it's time for President Mike to get the dual citizenship paperwork under way.)
GUESTS
Charlie Winkler's grandson Andrew Quackenbush was with us as well. Also, Jodi Gladstone invited David Osborne to lunch. No, not the famous musician, David Osborne. The very capable education reform professional, and friend of Jodi, David Osborne.)
BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
Happy birthday to two Rotarians as we head into the first week of September--Bill TenEyck on 9/1 and Chuck Sauer on 9/5.
And a very 'happy anniversary' goes out to two Rotarians this week. Happy 26th anniversary to Honorary Rotarian John (and Ginny) Eastman, and happy 59th(!) anniversary to Chub (and Florence) Clement.
BOARD MEETING
Board members are reminded and all members are invited to the next Board Meeting, Thursday, September 8th, 7:30am, at the United Methodist Church on South County Trail, East Greenwich.
PHONEBOOK
We're down to wrap-up time, folks. Betsy DePrimo reported that we're still $14,000 short of our revenue goal, while President Mike challenged us again to do our part. Get your renewal ads in this week, please, or we won't have the Community Service Distribution money we planned on for the rest of the year.
HAPPY BUCKS
Karen Taylor was happy to see power come back to the EG Library after Rhode Island took a punch from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene this past weekend. Karen even invited those still using batteries and candles to stop by the library to charge up their cell phones and laptops.
Vin Meola looked over to Dave Iannuccilli's table and happily sneered that the Sox were still in first place despite losing the night before to the Yanks.
Jon TerMeer just got his power back and was happy just to be able to use his electric razor this morning.
Dave Iannuccilli sneered back at Vin Meola's table and complained about Josh Beckett, scheduled to pitch Wednesday night, always taking more than 12 seconds to throw a darn pitch, clearly a violation of Major League Baseball's pitching rules. (Someone suggested from the peanut gallery that there ought to be a 3-second Happy Buck rule for Yanks fans.)
Richard Waterman's power coming back on--a good thing. The Yankees beating the Sox the night before--a bad thing.
Karen Taylor sprang for yet another happy buck, this time for her recent trip to Saratoga, NY. Karen placed a couple of happy bucks down, and won, on a horse named 'Stay Thirsty.'
Vin Meola dug out another buck to shout back, 'I'm glad Beckett's pitching tonight and will irritate all Yankees fans!'
Dave Iannuccilli swung away with the last word on the subject, 'Vin won't be awake past the third inning anyway!'
(Gee, maybe we could raise some extra charity funds like this with a Sox/Yanks point/counterpoint...)
PROGRAM/SPEAKER
James Jones, Photographer, 'Japan after the Tsunami'
After Hurricane Irene, Providence Rotarian and photographer James Jones called his parents in Japan. He discussed how he and Rhode Islanders fared over the weekend, and he chatted about the inconvenience of being without power. They were hardly sympathetic to his plight, having lived through March's 8.9 magnitude earthquake, and terrible subsequent tsunami, that struck Northeast Japan.
On Friday, March 11th, 2011, James was panicking. News of the earthquake in Japan streamed everywhere, and he couldn't reach his folks in Tokyo. Finally, he was able to reach them via computer and Skype. Everyone in the family was okay.
Some 20,000 people perished after Japan's worst ever-recorded earthquake. First came the quake itself. Then came the devastating tsunami, which literally wiped out scores of cities and towns. Then, came hundreds of 5.0+ aftershocks. Finally, Japan endured a nuclear crisis of epic proportions--all 3 Fukushima reactors were lost to meltdowns.
The tsunami was the most lethal of all disaster elements. James told us that warnings were announced for an 18-foot tsunami. In the end, the tsunami reached 60 feet in many places.
James traveled in June to see the damage for himself and to visit his family. He visited Hanamaki, where he noted that schools were receiving 'transfers'--young students, many now orphaned, from the city. 'Life must go on' was the harsh theme. For these kids, there would be no American-style counseling.
James showed pictures he took of a town near Hanamaki. Actually, there wasn't much of a town to see. There was a terrible debris field which included cars, buses, and a fleet of commercial boats. Besides that, the town itself simply disappeared. And in that region, some 74,000 people are in temporary housing. The killer tsunami actually forced some towns and cities, having no surviving residents, to be legally dissolved.
Surprisingly to James, homes were allotted the same amount of relief food whether there was a single occupant, or, a family of four or five. Also, Rotary shelter boxes were stockpiled while residents sought refuge. James heard one official explain 'if there aren't enough for everyone, there aren't enough for anyone.' Rotarians started circumventing government officials and were able to succeed in getting shelter boxes to the population in need.
The city of Fukushima endured the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, and nearby residents who survived the quake and the tsunami had yet another challenge to bear. Geiger counters helped nuclear officials discover who had been subjected to dangerous levels of radioactivity. Incredibly, once pegged as having been exposed, people now had to deal with being stigmatized as 'radioactive.'
(James showing Betsy DePrimo one of his many pictures taken while visiting a devastated Japan.)
Note: James mentioned that 4 Japanese Rotarians were confirmed as deceased, while 220 Rotarian-owned businesses were lost.
For more information about the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, here's a link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/world/asia/12japan.html?pagewanted=all
