The documentary Children Of The Tsunami visits a handful of the children and families affected by Japan’s horrific tsunami and nuclear disaster. I think it’s important to follow the people of Japan and take note of what’s happening and what they might need. I am sure you think that too.
Some of the children in this documentary mourned their lost homes, friends, belongings and missing relatives. Some of them celebrated their survival and the community’s efforts to help one another. Every child had a different, clear view of what had happened and how they felt about it. It’s the kind of honesty and clarity that adults find a little harder. I think it’s a must watch.
Watch Children Of The Tsunami on iView. (It’s a BBC production)
Help the Children Of The Tsunami via Save The Children
On March 11th 2011 Japan was hit by the greatest tsunami in a thousand years.Through compelling testimony from 7-10 year-old survivors, this film reveals how the deadly wave and the Fukushima nuclear accident have changed children’s lives forever.
The story unfolds at two key locations: a primary school where 74 children were killed by the tsunami; and a school close to the Fukushima nuclear plant, attended by children evacuated from the nuclear exclusion zone.
Have you seen this sad and important doco?
xx Pip
I thank you for this post because it is very important that we don't forget what happened in Japan a year ago. ( I am Japanese, btw) If you want to help these Japanese people who are affected by the disaster, please buy products from these affected areas. Yes, you can donate money, too, but what they really need now is to rebuild their life again and go back to "normal" life. That means they must have a job to live.
Many people imagine that products from the north of Japan are polluted with radiation but that is NOT true. Any products that have radiation can NOT be on the market. All products that we can buy from Japan are safe.
It was so sad and raw, wasn't it? But the children were so lovely and thoughtful, it was uplifting in other ways…
So terrible that they live with the threat of exposure to radiation every day. Awful. On top of everything else they have gone through…
It's amazing to think that it has been a year since this happened. We need to be sure to keep an eye out and find ways to help (as many of us already do!)
I completely agree! It's very important to revisit these events months and years after and find out how things are going and what we can do. You are completely right. x
I did watch it and was very moved by it. And I *loved* the boy in the last photo (Rikku was his name I think?), and the fact that the kids wanted to help others even after all they'd been through. It was especially poignant for me as I spent a school trip in the two abandoned towns that they mentioned in the doco (Odaka and Tomioka) in 1993, and my memories of that area is of a very tightly knit, caring community and I hope that the survivors can keep that together even if they can't live in the same space.
Thanks, Pip I hadn't seen it and it was something worth watching. It was sobering and heartbreaking to see how much those beautiful children have beent through. How painful the experience has been for parents too. I can't even fathom not finding the body of my child or the torture of trying to find accommodation, food or even a safe place for my children to play.
I will hug my family a little tighter tonight and send love to those whose lives are so much harder.
The saddest thing is when I saw the title of this post in my reader, I thought "which tsunami"? So many devastating natural disasters in the last couple of years… it's almost unbelievable.
I agree that Japan should be kept in our thoughts as they move forward on the road to recovery. I do feel, however, that each natural disaster eclipses the last, in terms of media attention and public awareness, and there are still people, especially children, trying to recover from unimaginable tragedy in countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan, China, Colombia and Haiti (to name a few!). These people need to be in our thoughts too, especially those living in countries where they do not have the potential access to resources that the Japanese people do.
I did see it.
The children were so honest and free with how they felt about it. So hard that they had to grow up so soon with this tragedy.
I watched this Pip and was crying through most of it. Especially for those parents whose children's bodies were not found, and for that poor mum whose little girl was found but in such an unpleasant way.