This translation is not completely accurate as it was automatically generated by a computer.
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A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
1:00 P.M. EST March 15, 2011
The Rev. Jeffrey Mensendiek (center) poses with his wife Kazuko and
their children, from left, Hana, Stella and Tomo. Mensendiek is a
United Church of Christ missionary living near the epicenter of the
March 11 earthquake. Photo courtesy Lonnie Christoff.
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A missionary close to the epicenter of Japan’s devastating earthquake
reports that people there are suffering from a disaster “in three
dimensions.”
The Rev. Jeffrey Mensendiek, a United Church of Christ missionary who
serves as director of youth ministries at the Emmaus Center and the
Sendai Student/Youth Center in Sendai, described his concerns about how
those living in the earthquake zone, particularly the elderly, are
coping.
“This disaster has three dimensions,” Mensendiek wrote in a March 15
e-mail addressed to United Methodist missionaries in Japan. “First is
the earthquake itself. Second is the destruction from the tidal wave.
The third is the nuclear dimension, which is hard to put a finger on,
but it exists as a deep and present fear.”
With a widening nuclear threat sparked by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami,
Japan is facing what its prime minister has called the country’s worst
crisis since World War II. As rescuers search parts of 400 miles of
devastated coastline in northeastern Japan, some feared as many as
15,000 people may be dead.
“Sendai is in turmoil,” Mensendiek said. “Young people are
evacuating. Most people at church are elderly. Without water and
electricity, they are experiencing so much trouble in their daily life
that for them, the biggest priority is to get through the day with the
basic necessities.”
This satellite image of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant
in Japan shows the damage after the March 11 earthquake
and tsunami. Photo courtesy DigitalGlobe.
The largest city in the Tohoku region of Japan, with a population of 1
million, Sendai is 80 kilometers (about 50 miles) from the nuclear
reactors that were damaged by the earthquake. Although 10 deaths in
Sendai are reported in the government’s official death toll so far,
about 200 to 300 bodies were found in the city’s Wakabayashi district,
according to the New York Times.
“Central Sendai has electricity and water, but we are not certain how
long this will last,” Mensendiek told Christian colleagues. “Outlying
areas do not even have the pleasures of electricity and water. Food and
gasoline are also scarce throughout. Most depressing is the situation
along the coast. We are expecting another cold wave, and our hearts go
out to those who are still isolated from the necessary lifelines.”
Mensendiek’s wife and children have evacuated to Kyoto, where her
parents live. The situation seemed bleak on the Sunday after the
earthquake. About 20 people gathered in the small room at the church he
attends with only kerosene stoves to keep out the cold.
The pastor encouraged them to remember that only God could see the
whole picture of their situation. “Each member had their own story about
their struggles,” Mensendiek said. “But when we brought these stories
together, it helped us see how fragmented and limited human vision is
compared to God’s vision.”
Jeffrey Mensendiek plays guitar at a church visit in
Ben Salem United Church of Christ in Lehighton, Pa.
Photo courtesy Lonnie Christoff.
Nearly all United Methodist mission work in Japan
is in cooperation with ecumenical partners, including the United Church
of Christ in Japan, the Korean Christian Church in Japan and the
National Christian Council in Japan.
The Emmaus Center is part of the United Church of Christ in Japan.
Mensendiek reported that the church moderator was in Sendai with an
assessment team to gather information over the next few days.
“Experts are here from Kobe and Niigata — both areas that have
experienced tremendous earthquakes,” he added. “But this situation this
time is different. The tsunami factor and the nuclear factor are new.”
The United Methodist Committee on Relief is collecting donations for Japanese earthquake relief.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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