Back in the frame

Photographs washed away by Japan's tsunami restored and returned to owners. In an effort to save the memories of a nation, muddied photographs and albums sent from tsunami-hit areas are washed and repackaged by an army of volunteers across Japan before being returned to their owners. The disaster on 11 March 2011, described by then prime minister Naoto Kan as Japan's worst since the second world war, killed more than 15,000 people and destroyed the homes and livelihoods of thousands more.

copy paste από τον  guardian 

Δύσκολη μέρα.

Δύσκολη μέρα. Πολύ δύσκολη. Ειδικά όταν δεν διαθέτεις αυτό το μοναδικό...-να το πω χάρισμα;- των Ιαπώνων που κάνει τους ξένους ανταποκριτές να εκφράζουν τον θαυμασμό τους για τον απίστευτο έλεγχο των συναισθημάτων μπροστά στην ακραία φυσική καταστροφή.

Μόνο ο Ναότο Καν, ο Ιάπωνας πρωθυπουργός ξεφεύγει του κανόνα της στωικότητας της Άπω Ανατολής και αναφωνεί : «Τι στο διάβολο συµβαίνει;» Κι είναι να απορεί κανείς με την απορία του καθώς διαβάζει ότι η κυβέρνησή του είχε δεσμευτεί για την αναβάθμιση της ασφάλειας σε όλες τις πυρηνικές εγκαταστάσεις της χώρας που είχαν κριθεί επισφαλείς ήδη από το 2008.

Υπό την ορατή απειλή της πυρηνική καταστροφής σχεδόν ξεχνάς τις σκηνές που δυσκολεύτηκες να πιστέψεις ότι ήταν αληθινές κι όχι από ταινία που του χρόνου θα κέρδιζε επάξια όσκαρ ειδικών εφέ. Ξεχνάς ότι για τη Μιναµισανρίκου χρειάστηκε GPS ώστε να εξακριβωθεί η τοποθεσία που βρισκόταν η πόλη και ότι η θάλασσα ξεβράζει ασταμάτητα πτώματα εκεί όπως και εδώ άλλωστε.

Κι ενώ γηραιός αυτοκράτορας Ακιχίτο απευθύνει διάγγελμα στο λαό, το χιόνι καλύπτει τις περιοχές που έχουν πληγεί δυσχεραίνοντας τις προσπάθειες των σωστικών συνεργείων αλλά και τη ζωή των άστεγων που άφησαν πίσω τους ο σεισμός και το τσουνάμι.

Σαν να μην έφταναν όλα αυτά, στρέφεσαι μετά πάλι δυτικά, γιατί ακούς το γιο του τρελού σκύλου να λέει:"Το πρώτο που ζητάμε από αυτόν τον κλόουν είναι να δώσει πίσω τα χρήματα". Διαβάζεις ότι οι ΗΠΑ, Βρετανία και Γαλλία ετοιμάζουν προσχέδιο ώστε να επιβληθούν αυστηρότερες κυρώσεις προς το καθεστώς Καντάφι από το Συμβούλιο Ασφαλείας του ΟΗΕ. Η δε Γερμανία δια στόματος Βεστερβέλε δηλώνει: «Δεν επιθυμούμε την εμπλοκή σ’ έναν πόλεμο επί βορειοαφρικανικού εδάφους» ενώ ήδη οι δυνάμεις του Καντάφι προελαύνουν προς τη Βεγγάζη.

Δύσκολη μέρα σου λέω. Πολύ δύσκολη.

Η εικόνα από εδώ. 

Μουσική: Solitude, Ryuichi Sakamoto. 

Ιαπωνία 8,9

An oncoming tsunami strikes the coast in Natori City, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan March 11, 2011. The biggest earthquake to hit Japan in 140 years struck the northeast coast on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its path, including houses, cars and farm buildings on fire. (Reuters)

Earthquake-triggered tsumanis sweep shores along Iwanuma in northern Japan. (Kyodo News/Associated Press)

Houses swallowed by tsunami waves burn in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, March 11. (Kyodo News/Associated Press)

Light planes and vehicles sit among the debris after they were swept by a tsumani that struck Sendai airport in northern Japan. (Kyodo News/Associated Press)

Fishing boats and vehicles are carried by a tsunami wave at Onahama port in Iwaki city, in Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan. (Fukushima Minpo/AFP/Getty Images)

A tsumani triggered by a powerful earthquake makes its way to sweep part of Sendai airport in northern Japan on Friday March 11, 2011. The magnitude 8.9 earthquake slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, unleashing a 13-foot (4-meter) tsunami that swept boats, cars, buildings and tons of debris miles inland. (Kyodo News/Associated Press)

Tsunami swirls near a port in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, March 11. (Kyodo News/Associated Press)

An energy map provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows the intensity of the tsunami caused by the magnitude 8.9 earthquake which struck Japan on March 11, 2011. A tsunami warning has been issued for the entire Pacific basin except mainland United States and Canada following a huge earthquake that hit Japan on Friday, the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The warning includes Hawaii and extends from Mexico down to South American countries on the Pacific, the center said. (NOAA/Tsunami Warning Center/)

Seismologists pose for the media as they display a seismographic graph showing the magnitude of the earthquake in Japan, on a monitor at the British Geological Survey office in Edinburgh, Scotland March 11, 2011. The biggest earthquake on record to hit Japan struck the northeast coast on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its path, including houses, ships, cars and farm buildings. (David Moir/Reuters)

A helmeted man walks past the rubbles and a burning building after a powerful earthquake, the largest in Japan's recorded history, slammed the eastern coasts in Iwaki city, Fukushima prefecture, Japan. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) 

Giant fireballs rise from a burning oil refinery in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast. (Kyodo News/Associated Press)

Hotel employees squat down in horror at the hotel's entrance in Tokyo after a strong earthquake hit Japan. (Itsuo Inouye/Associated Press)

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan (center) reacts he he feels an earthquake as he attends a committee meeting in the upper house of parliament in Tokyo March 11. A massive 8.8 magnitude quake hit the northeast coast of Japan on Friday, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo, causing "many injuries", at least one fire and triggering a four-metre (13-ft) tsunami, NHK television and witnesses reported. (Toro Hanai/Reuters)

Stranded commuters watch a TV news on a powerful earthquake at Tokyo railway station as train services are suspended in Tokyo. (Hiro Komae/Associated Press

Workers inspect a caved-in section of a prefectural road in Satte, Saitama Prefecture, after one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded in Japan slammed its eastern coast March 11. (Saitama Shimbun/Associated Press/Kyodo News)

Evacuees wait in an evacuation area following an earthquake in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, March 11, 2011. Japan was struck by its strongest earthquake on record, an 8.9-magnitude temblor that shook buildings across Tokyo and unleashed a seven-meter-high tsunami that killed hundreds as it engulfed towns on the northern coast. (Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg)

όλες οι εικόνες από την boston.com, 
 Massive earthquake hits Japan

update: κι άλλες εικόνες - της επόμενης μέρας-  εδώ.
κι ένα συγκλονιστικό βίντεο.