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Rebecca Clegg-Sasaki
Rebecca Clegg-Sasaki
Rebecca Clegg-Sasaki is originally from Guernsey in the United Kingdom. On March 11, 2011, she was living in Sendai, located along the Sanriku Coast of Japan. Close to the earthquake's epicentre, Sendai was severely impacted by the disaster. Especially the tsunami, which extensively flooded coastal areas of the city. At this time, Rebecca was a university student and worked part-time teaching English.
The Sanriku Coast, Tohoku, Japan
During 3.11, I was living in Sendai, in a place to the north called Izumi. At the time of the earthquake, I was a student and had a part-time job. I went to school in the mornings until mid-afternoon. And then from lunchtime, sometimes I had a part-time teaching job at a school, teaching English, of course. So at the time of the earthquake, I was at one of the schools, in the centre of Sendai, near a place called Hirose Dori, which is a big street in Sendai, around the corner from Sendai station.
I strongly remember the actual earthquake. I was in the school on the seventh floor of the building. I was preparing, but the class hadn't started yet. Then the earthquake obviously started.
I mean, before the major earthquake, for probably two or three weeks, there were some quite major earthquakes in Sendai. Maybe like magnitude five or six earthquakes in strength. So I was kind of used to earthquakes.
So I just assumed it was another earthquake. I was with some colleagues in this very small office, and we were like, 'Oh, it's another earthquake?' which made it normal. It started really quite violent with side-to-side shaking. In the office, the books were coming off the shelves, and a Christmas tree that was on the top of a shelf actually fell on me, so I was covered in Christmas decorations, but I went and did what all the kids at school are told: I got under the table. Next the shaking changed from side-to-side, kind of going up and down, which I had never experienced before. The roof collapsed and the walls of the office collapsed, and then it was completely black. When that subsided, after what felt like a really long time, it was nearly two minutes of this kind of up and down where you couldn’t walk.
When that subsided, we were clambering over furniture and bookshelves and things to get to the emergency staircase, which was outside of the building. Some of my colleagues went to the offices next door and were trying to pull people out from under the desks and things. When we got outside, the metal stairway was still shaking and shuddering, making all kinds of creaking noises as we walked down. As I walked out onto the main street, the trees were moving. It was like they were in honey. They were sort of spinning around in small movements, which is what I really remember. It was very memorable.
Rebecca's story continues here: Continue reading: Can I get across this bridge? Should I jump this gap?
Now I’m most interested in, and my research is based around the stories that people are telling, and need to tell. It’s quite difficult, even now for us to think about the disaster, when the backdrop is just that big black wave that everybody saw, and the blast at Fukushima as well. We can’t dismiss that, but we also need to see the bigger implication, the human stories and give them credibility as well. There are junior high school students who have written poems based on their experience, and their town being completely devastated. There is also this book called Radiation Brain Moms, about this group of mothers who believed that the government wasn’t protecting them, so, they became the scientists. They were testing veggies in the village to see if it was safe for their kids to eat, as well as collecting data about radiation levels.
↑Media Rebecca uses in her research of 3.11
↑Media Rebecca uses in her research of 3.11
・Radiation Brain Moms and Citizen Scientists by Aya Hirata Kimura (Pictured centre).
・おふくろ by 佐藤雅人. Mother by Masato Sato. (Pictured lower right).
・聞き書き 震災体験―東北大学 90人が語る3.11 by 高倉 浩樹. Interviews with 90 Tohoku University students about their experiences of the earthquake disaster on March 11, 2011, by Hiroki Takakura. (Pictured upper right).
・女川一中生の句―あの日から by 小野 智美. Poems by Onagawa first-year Junior High School Students- From That Day by Tomomi Ono. (Pictured left).
Anna and Katie's author bios and reflection
Anna and Katie's author bios and reflection
ANNA CSIBI is an international student from England. She is a third-year student at the University of Exeter.
Over the course of this project, I felt like my knowledge of the disaster which began on 3.11 increased greatly, and I found it very interesting to be able to engage with a real account of the disaster as I think that I was able to approach the topic in more depth and detail afterwards. The knowledge I have gained in the process of conducting the interview and creating the google site made me feel that I had gained a valuable skillset beyond the classroom. Hearing Rebecca’s story changed the way I viewed the JAS300 course as a whole and the way that I approached the discussion of disaster literature afterwards. As well as this, I also thought that I had gained a much greater understanding of the area in which I am living. I am very glad to have been able to participate in the project and write for the archive.
KATIE COMYNS is an international student from New Zealand. She is a third-year student at Victoria University of Wellington.
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