Inside of the area stricken by disaster--Vol.1 This is Otsuchi Town

Two weeks have already passed since I was sent to Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, which was seriously destroyed by the earthquake and the following Tsunami on March 11, 2011. Now I work for the registrar staff in the town office. Though I was embarrassed by the situation of the area stricken by disaster and the difference from the way of the works in Osaka.

I’ll stay here till the end of July. I’ll send you reports from the area stricken by disaster as many as possible.

I’ll introduce you the short profile of Otsuchi Town. Otsuchi Town is located in the Tohoku area, the northern part of Japan. Pre-disaster population is about 15,000 people, main local industry was fishery.

The most serious earthquake in our history which happened at 0546z on March 11, 2011 changed the calm small town drastically. After the vibration of the magnitude 9, the terrible Tsunami attacked the town.
Almost the whole downtown near the Pacific coast was destroyed mercilessly and the wreckage of buildings piled up anywhere. Only in Otsuchi Town about 750 people victimed and about 950 are still missing. In the town office mayor and about 30% of all personnel died or are missing.

When I arrived at the downtown for the first time, I was very surprised at the wreckage lands without any buildings. There used to be the former main street before my working venue where shops, hotel, hospital and many kinds of buildings opened for business. But this beautiful streets were bulldozed mercilessly by Tsunami.



In the present circumstances the reconstruction plan hasn’t been decided yet. At least the government doesn’t allow us to build houses and commercial buildings at the site stricken by disaster. In addition, there are no shops in neighborhood. We need to bring lunch.

Although daily life is very inconvenient, Lawson is already open around the clock at the gateway to the areas stricken by earthquake. It sells a variety of commodities and daily goods and many neighborhoods and reconstruction workers pay a visit there.

I’m looking forward to the good changes during my three-month stay in Otsuchi Town.

I work in the area stricken by Earthquake and Tsunami...

It's almost two month since the East Japan Great Earthquake happened on March 11.

At the present time, reconstruction is going on in the area stricken by disaster, but serious problem on the radioactive leakage still remains.

To tell the truth, I'm dispatched to the area stricken by earthquake and the following Tsunami.

I'll work in Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture,(JCG#03004, N39'21"35 E141'54"24, QM09WI) located in the northrn Japan, from May 5 for about three months.

Otsuchi Town, which is located in the pacific coast, was attacked by Tsunami and the downtown seriously damaged. About 1,700 of the population of 15,000 people victimed or missing at the time of writing.
In addition, the town office was also destroyed, mayor and about 25% of all the personels victimed.

I'll be engaged in the reconstruction of the damaged town office. Especially I'll support the recovery of the lost resident registration.

I stay in Tono City(JCC#0310, N39'19"47 E141'31"37 QM09SH), which is located in the inland, about 50km west from Otsuchi Town. Different from Otsuchi Town, Tono town is almost normal.

I bring YAESU FT-450M and several antennas, for example, long wire for 20m, 15m and 6m. The plan of QRV isn't decided yet because I will stay in the room in Tono with my co-worker. When I make QRV, I'll use CW, RTTY or PSK in order not to send my loud voice by SSB.
I'll make QRV as the callsign of JO3PSJ/7. QSL cards will be issued after the end of my mission for three month.

My plan to participate in DX Contests is also not decided yet. I'd like to join in CQ WPX CW, ALL ASIAN CW, IARU HF Championship and RSGB IOTA Contest. But I'll use my precious time to visit the areas stricken by disasters. I think maybe I'll have less opportunity to sit before my rig.

I'll report the present situation of the disaster area as many as possible during my staying.

Two Russian Domestic Contests Participation

I participated in two Russian local contests-UA1DZ Memorial Contest(1500-1900z on 30 April, organized by Sankt Peterburg Amateur Radio Association) and RCC Cup(0200-0800z on 1 May, organized by Russian Contest Club).

As to UA1DZ Memorial Contest, I finished only 7 QSOs. I missed multipliers, which of the contest are designated the RDA(Russian Districts Awards) number of Sankt Peterburg and Leningrad Oblast. Maybe I will be disqualified in the contest.

As to RCC CUP, I got total 11 QSOs. In Japan condition of high bands is very poor, so Russian stations showed up after 0600z. I succeeded multipliers of RCC membership number. I could get the right to be nominated in the ranking of the contest.

In Japan ALL JA Contest, one of the large domestic contests, took place on the same day as two Russian contests. QSO areas for CW mode on 20m and 15m bands are designated on the rule in 14.050-14.080 and 21.050-21.080 in almost all of our domestic contests. QRM problems didn't happened and I enjoyed confortable DXing because DX stations make QRV at the bottom area of bands.

Russian local contests are very interesting because the operation technique of participants is very high. I will participate in the coming contests!

（QSO）
Total 18 QSOs in the both contests
AS: UA0, UN,
EU: UA, UR, S5

（RIG)
YAESU FT-450M 50W
（ANT)
20m: Full size vertical style made by fishing rod. 5mL on the balcony
15m: Full size inverted V dipole. 7mL on the balcony.

QTH: At home in Amagasaki City, Hyogo, JAPAN (JCC#2703, GL#PM74QS)
Logsoft：N1MM
OS：Windows XP