Ishinomaki is one of the cities that got very badly hit by both the earthquake and the resultant tsunami on the 11th of March. When we visited the city, though, I was amazed to see the pace of the reconstruction work that has already begun here! Many of the streets had been cleared of detritus and most of the rubble had already been collected and deposited in vacant lots.
In the area just behind the docks the devastation was absolutely unbelievable! Smashed houses, cars everywhere, boats randomly dumped. I saw what looked like a bay… except it was dotted with the remains of houses, and what I’m told used to be fields. Perhaps most shocking was the sight of a massive container ship which had been lifted up and deposited well behind the dock.
This is where Kakimoto san first started to go looking for stranded pets. But it was immediately clear there was no chance that any creatures could have survived there. Several animals from further inland were picked up by the tsunami and dumped several kilometres away; unfortunately not all of these survived either.
Only two of the eight veterinary clinics that existed in Ishinomaki have survived the disaster. Of these, the Abe Animal Hospital, owned by Dr. Toshinori Abe has become the headquarters for vet response in Ishinomaki. A large group of trained veterinarians and vet technicians are currently working there.
Members of the public often phone in to the Abe Hospital to report both living and dead animals; volunteers with the clinic respond to every call, heading out to locate the animal and bring it back to the clinic. Rescued animals are scanned for microchips or identifying information, and receive immediate medical attention from the vets at the Abe hospital.
When they checked over this rescued dachshund, vets discovered she had two very large bladder stones that were certain to be causing tremendous pain! Fortunately, Dr. Abe was able to operate on her the very next day and removed both stones. At the time we visited, she was recovering well from both, the ordeal she’d suffered as well as the surgery. She presently has the company of about 30 dogs and cats at the clinic, and one lone rabbit.
Dr. Toshinori Abe and the rest of his team at the Abe Hospital are doing such wonderful work in Ishinomaki, it was truly rewarding to witness it first hand. The ADRT has already delivered over two tonnes of supplies to the hospital, including cases of dog food, medicines, cages, jerry cans of petrol etc so it was particularly gratifying to see how our support is helping deliver aid to some of the animals in Japan.
A large number of schools are presently being used as evacuation shelters, which is great because they can use separate classrooms to house those with or without pets, meaning that families don’t need to be separated from their pets. But as the Japanese begin to resume normal routines as best as they can after the disaster, they are going to need these premises so the children can start to go to school again.
In preparation, the vets in Ishinomaki are therefore preparing to set up shelters to house the animals close to where the families will be relocated. Your continuing support will allow us to help them set up more of these shelters so that families can continue to care for their pets in these difficult times.