One month on, debris fields barely dented (JAPAN)

[AsahinaKimi]

NATORI, Miyagi Pref. ~

A month after the devastating earthquake and tsunami, the challenges seem as daunting as ever: Thousands are missing and feared dead, tens of thousands have fled their homes, the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant continues to leak and powerful aftershocks keep coming.

Vast tracts of the Tohoku region are demolition sites: The stuff of entire cities is sorted into piles taller than three-story buildings around which dump trucks and earthmovers crawl. Ankle-deep water stagnates in streets, and massive fishing boats lie perched atop pancaked houses and cars. The occasional telephone poll or bulldozer is sometimes the only skyline.

"It's a hellish sorrow," said Numata Takahashi, 56, who escaped his home in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, just before the waves came. "I don't know where we'll go, but I'm not coming back here. . . . We'll go somewhere where there are no tsunami."

Two strong aftershocks have killed people and sunk thousands more households into darkness, while also delaying progress on restoring power to those in darkness since March 11.

Facing the prospect of massive shortfalls in the hot summer months, the government is asking companies to cut their consumption drastically or face mandatory energy caps.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110416f2.html

video in Japanese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv3-1ykibnY&feature=player_embedded

[msongs]

1. are they recycling all those usable boards in houses like the one upside down in the picture? nt

[madrchsod]

4. the recyclable stuff could be to contaminated to use.

[nilram]

6. could be too dangerous to dismantle a house in that position.

What an awful mess.

[malaise]

2. I can't imagine the devastation

and I've seen the results of really bad hurricanes.
What do you do? Where do you go?

I share their pain.

[Old and In the Way]

3. Where to begin?

The devastation is so wide and extensive, I cannot see how this job can be completed within a decade. I truly hope I'm wrong.

[madrchsod]

5. as the weather becomes warmer the rot and mold set in.