[nggallery id=1]
It’s a moment we’ll never forget, where we were, and what we were doing when the mega quake and tsunami hit north-eastern Japan. In the days and weeks following, a large number of foreign residents booked the first flight they could out of the country. They were called “Flyjin.” One foreign resident, on the other hand, flew himself into the thick of it. He became a different type of “Flyjin.”
13 members and 9 aircraft from the private helicopter owner and pilot’s association HCJ (Helicopter Conference of Japan) including ZIP-FM DJ Chris Glenn were amongst the first response teams to reach the survivors.
From the start it was obvious. Roads and bridges had been made inaccessible by the quake, and tsunami. Only helicopters could get in and out of the ruined region. From the air, you could see the extent of the devastation. You could see where entire villages and towns once stood, and all that remained were the concrete foundations, and long, thin, smooth sandy patches that were once roads. On the ocean, you could see the remains of houses, roofs, timbers, paneling and former contents all floating in massive heaps like islands of rubbish.
Containers from docks and ships littered the coastline, as did wrecked vessels of all sizes. The first pilots up there reported seeing masses of bodies strewn along the coast.
We flew over 300 missions in the first five weeks, ferrying emergency supplies, food, water, medicines and basic necessities all over the Miyagi, Iwate and northern Fukushima disaster zones. As roads became passable, our mandate changed to flying in doctors and medics direct to the emergency shelters.
It still wasn’t enough, …isn’t enough. The people there will be suffering for many years to come. May we never forget them.
