KARAKUWA, Japan (AP) -- There may be no water, no power and no cell phone reception in this tsunami-struck town, but in the school that serves as a shelter, there are sizzling pans of fat, pink shrimp. Relief supplies have only trickled into the long strip of northeast Japan demolished by a powerful earthquake and the wave it unleashed a week ago, leaving affected communities to fend for themselves.
Many have risen to the occasion.
No water for the toilets? No problem. Students in Karakuwa bring buckets of water from the school swimming pool to give survivors the dignity of a proper flush. In the kitchen, a giant rice cooker given to the school by a resident sits on a table, steam rising from the heaping mounds of rice inside. There are hardships -- a junior high hardly offers the comforts of home -- and while the sense of community runs all along the coast, not all survivors are as well off. Blustery snow, fuel shortages and widespread damage to airports, roads and rails have hampered delivery of badly needed assistance to more than 450,000 homeless trying to stay fed and warm, often without electricity and running water in shelters cobbled together in schools and other public buildings. More than 6,900 people are confirmed dead so far and another 10,700 are missing. (31 images)
Many have risen to the occasion.
No water for the toilets? No problem. Students in Karakuwa bring buckets of water from the school swimming pool to give survivors the dignity of a proper flush. In the kitchen, a giant rice cooker given to the school by a resident sits on a table, steam rising from the heaping mounds of rice inside. There are hardships -- a junior high hardly offers the comforts of home -- and while the sense of community runs all along the coast, not all survivors are as well off. Blustery snow, fuel shortages and widespread damage to airports, roads and rails have hampered delivery of badly needed assistance to more than 450,000 homeless trying to stay fed and warm, often without electricity and running water in shelters cobbled together in schools and other public buildings. More than 6,900 people are confirmed dead so far and another 10,700 are missing. (31 images)
Follow The Frame on Twitter at sacbee_theframe
Survivors huddle around the open fire to keep warm at a shelter in Minamisanriku town, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Friday, March 18, 2011, just one week after a massive earthquake and resulting tsunami. AP / Ichiro Ohara
A man checks a list of names at an evacuation center in Natori near Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, Japan, Friday, March 18, 2011. AP / Mark Baker
Momoko Onodera prays as she talks about her husband who died in the tsunami at an evacuation center on March 18, 2011 in Kesennuma, Japan. Getty Images / Paula Bronstein
An evacuee, right, is checked by a doctor at a shelter in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Friday, March 18, 2011. AP / Kyodo News
Volunteers distribute rice balls during lunch at a shelter in Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture on March 18, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Kazuhiro Nogi
People cook outside their home in the tsunami-damaged town of Otsuchi on March 18, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Nicholas Kamm
Aiko Musashi and her husband Katsuya remove personnel belongings from their destroyed home on March 18, 2011 in Kesennuma, Japan. Residents have started returning to their homes to begin the massive cleanup operation caused by a 9.0 magnitude strong earthquake that struck on March 11. Getty Images / Paula Bronstein
Aiko Musashi carries personal belongings from her destroyed home on March 18, 2011 in Kesennuma, Japan. Getty Images / Paula Bronstein
A man walks past a car wedged into a boat on March 18, 2011 in Ishinomaki, Japan. Getty Images / Chris McGrath
These two combo photos show before (bottom) and after (top) the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami hitting Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan. Bottom was taken in 1992, top was Friday, March 18, 2011. AP / Kyodo News
People watch Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members conducting a search operation at Yamamoto town, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Friday, March 18, 2011, just one week after the earthquake and resulting tsunami. AP / Kyodo News
An ambulance drives past the ruins of buildings at Onagawa town, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Friday, March 18, 2011, just one week after the earthquake and resulting tsunami. AP / Kyodo News
Trucks carrying relief supplies drive a road amid the rubble at Onagawa town, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Friday, March 18, 2011, just one week after the earthquake and resulting tsunami. AP / Kyodo News
A man sits in a chair amid the rubble in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Friday, March 18, 2011, just one week after the earthquake and resulting tsunami. AP / Kyodo News
Villagers observe a moment of silence while facing the sea for victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Tanohatamura, Iwate Prefecture, at 2:46 p.m. on Friday, March 18, 2011 at the time when a strong earthquake hit northeastern Japan one week ago. AP / Kyodo News
Local residents walk amongst the piled up debris from destroyed houses after the March 11 tsunami and earthquake in the city of Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture on March 18, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Nicolas Ashfouri
Japanese rescuers attempt to remove the body of a victim of the March 11 tsunami and earthquake found in a car in the city of Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture on March 18, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Nicolas Asfouri
Japanese rescue team members stand in the debris field and pray in silence at Rikuzentakata city in Iwate prefecture on March 18, 2011, one week after a massive earthquake and tsunami hit northern Japan. AFP/ Getty Images / Yomiuri Shimbun
Rescue workers search through debris in Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture on March 18, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Mike Clarke
A rescue worker searches through debris in Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture on March 18, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Mike Clarke
A family cleans out their house in the tsunami-devastated town of Otsuchi on March 18, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Nicholas Kamm
A man salvages items from the ruins of destroyed buildings in Kamaishi town in Iwate prefecture, northeastern Japan on March 18, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Roslan Rahman
Officials scan people for radiation, 60 km west of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture, in Koriyama on March 18, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Ken Shimizu
Residents look through messages posted on the missing boards at the Kensennuma city hall on March 17, 2011 in Kensennuma, Japan. Getty Images / Chris McGrath
A woman surveys the damage after the earthquake on March 17, 2011 in Kensennuma, Japan. Getty Images / Chris McGrath
Japanese rescuers search through debris in front of a large grounded ship in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture on March 17, 2011 after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. AFP/ Getty Images / Kim Jae-Hwan
Two elderly Japanese women and a pet dog pass by a ship that washed into their neighborhood as they try to make their way to search for their destroyed home in the leveled city of Kesennuma, in northeastern Japan, Thursday March 17, 2011. AP / David Guttenfelder
Government officials walk down a recently-cleared roadway on Thursday, March 17, 2011, in Kesennuma, Japan, where the earthquake-spawned tsunami caused a massive fuel spill and fire further consuming the Japanese coastal town, famous for its tuna fishing fleet. Los Angeles Times / Brian van der Brug
Katsuo Maiya, 73, cries in front of the rubble where his sister-in-law's house stood in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan, Thursday, March 17, 2011. Maiya's sister-in-law and her husband were killed in Friday's earthquake and tsunami. AP / Itsuo Inouye
A tsunami survivor checks a house in earthquake-hit Kesennuma in Miyagi prefecture on March 17, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Philippe Lopez
A junior high school student evacuee studies under the light of a kerosene stove at a makeshift shelter in Ofunato, northern Japan, Thursday, March 17, 2011. AP / KYDPL
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.