Yatsushiro (AsiaNews) – Three weeks on from the earthquake that devastated Kumamoto Prefecture on 28 July, claiming 39 lives and causing extensive damage, the Catholic community in Yatsushiro – the area hardest hit in the Diocese of Fukuoka – experienced a moment of hope on 16 August with the resumption of Sunday Mass.
As the church was severely damaged, the liturgy took place in a hall at the convent of the Sisters of St Paul de Chartres: it was presided over, in the presence of around fifty people, by the Bishop of Fukuoka, Monsignor Joseph Abeia, together with the parish priest, Fr Ferruccio Brambillasca, an Italian PIME missionary.
For the community, it was an important occasion to come together and reflect on their journey in a situation where the problems caused by the earthquake – exacerbated by the intense heat – remain numerous. “Faced with the earthquake,” said Bishop Abeia, “we might ask ourselves: ‘Why did this happen?’. There is no answer to this question. But the question we can answer is: ‘How do we move forward together?’”
This is the spirit in which the parish of Yatsushiro has rallied since the very first days, despite the serious problems caused by the disruption to the water supply. The first step was the distribution of water rations and other essential relief supplies that Father Brambillasca brought from Minamata – the other parish entrusted to him, where he himself had been displaced due to damage to the presbytery – and from other neighbouring communities. This initiative – publicised via messages circulated on social media – also reached Filipino and Vietnamese workers in the area (who had themselves been severely affected by the earthquake).
For their part, the Sisters of Saint Paul de Chartres had another valuable resource to offer: water from their own well, which is normally used to supply around thirty children attending an educational centre. This made it possible to set up a shower facility, which was essential given the extreme heat and the lack of running water in homes. Another gesture of solidarity that was greatly appreciated by the local people was the food brought by the parishes of Tetori and Imamura, also in Kumamoto Prefecture, which allowed them to enjoy a ‘proper meal’ again after living on emergency rations.
As the days went by in Yatsushiro, more organised relief efforts were launched by Caritas Japan, with a team drawing on the experience gained during the triple disaster of 2011 (the earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear accident) and, more recently, the earthquake on the Noto Peninsula. An office has been set up at the parish to assess people’s needs as part of a long-term response strategy, with particular attention being paid to those who have lost their jobs, elderly people living alone and others facing hardship.
Another significant development in this regard was the opening on 14 August of a café for displaced people at the reception centre set up in Yatsushiro Middle School No. 4. “Thanks above all to the parishioners of the Catholic church in Yatsushiro,” says Caritas Japan, “it has been visited by a great many people since it opened. People said: ‘I was taking shelter at home, but I’d run out of food supplies so I came to the reception centre’, ‘This is the first time I’ve had a hot coffee since the earthquake: it was delicious, it really cheered me up’. At first, their faces were very sombre and tense, but thanks to the coffee they lit up and some people seem to be walking with a lighter step.”
