Consequences of Habigis typhoon. Photo by Time.
Getting the warning of Hagibis Typhoon (known as the typhoon No. 19 in Japan) appeared on the Pacific Ocean and likely to land in Japan, every Japanese face remained calm and ready to cope with natural harshness.
After the typhoon had gone away, the consequences were still such a real devastating, and the picture of Japanese fathers and sons remained gentle in scooping up mud and soil, sharing a sip of water to start life as it was.
Disastrous shortly before landing
Around 19:00 pm on October 12, Hagibis landed in Shizuoka (the province adjacent to Tokyo) bringing heavy rain and strong wind. Wind speeded up to 45-60m/s, greater than the typhoon occurred in 1958 with wind speeded above 45-55m/s killed 1,200 people. Fears of great damage covered Japan.
Few days before, news reports on television, radio and community speakers were continuously broadcasted information about the Hagibis typhoon. In the morning of October 12, Hagibis approached Japan. Provinces such as Shizuoka and Chiba had heavy rain, many areas were flooded. Thousands of families had power cut. Since the typhoon had not landed yet, in Chiba, a person died and 5 were injured. Other localities such as Shizuoka had a person missing and dozens injured. Heavy rain continued on a large scale. The water level in the major rivers and canals increased, causing some roads and bridges to be flooded. Evacuation warnings had been issued in many areas.
The Japanese power company continuously provided notices of temporary power cut. More than 13,000 households in Tokyo, Saitama, Yamanashi, Tochigi, Kanagawa ... lost power in the afternoon of October 12.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) of Japan has canceled all domestic flights using Haneda and Narita airports on October 12. About 370 flights were affected by this decision. Japan Airlines and a number of other airlines also canceled hundreds of domestic and international flights. Hundreds of international passengers had to spend nights at the airport, waiting for the flights to resume operation.
Influenced by the typhoon, the Organizing Committee of the World Rugby Championships in Japan announced the cancellation of two group matches between New Zealand and Italy in Toyota City, Aichi province and the match between England and France in Yokohama city. That was the first time in the history of the World Rugby Championship its matches were canceled
Restaurants and shops were almost closed. Only a few supermarkets operated, but items such as fish, meat, fresh vegetables were limited due to consumers' stockpiling. Many food stalls were empty.
Around 19:00 pm in October 12, Hagibis - the strongest typhoon of the year hit Shizuoka (the province adjacent to Tokyo) with heavy rain and gale. The Kanto and Tokai areas were all in the state of highest alert about the danger of typhoon.
While the typhoon was landing, at 18:22 pm (at 16:22 pm of Vietnam time), in the southern part of Chiba province, a level 4 earthquake occurred, simultaneously in Tokyo. The communities of foreigners, including Vietnamese, were shocked. Facebook was full with fears alongside warnings and evacuation announcements
Heavy rain, strong winds, power outages, broken dikes, floods, the number of casualties kept increasing. Electricity was cut across 22 provinces, all railways stopped working. Activities almost were silently in the houses, or carried out by rescue teams, police outside. Hagibis typhoon was like a giant monkey reaching out to collapse houses, screaming in the rain, calling winds to pour down Japan. Japan was like a gentle mother who was painless and helpless fending off the typhoon.
In the evening of October 13, after one day and night of sweeping upside down in the area of Kanto, Tokai of Japan, Hagibis typhoon retreated to the Sea. It left behind many dams in the provinces of Ibaraki, Miyagi, Saitama, Kanagawa, Nagano ... to discharge. 77 rivers were on alert due to concerns that water will continue to rise.
Many areas of Saitama, Nagano, Tochigi, Fukushima, Yamanashi provinces ... were flooded due to heavy rain and dyke breakage. Most people's houses were flooded on the first floor, isolated apartments, nursing homes, hospitals, schools ... which needed the help of helicopters and rescue teams. Some areas due to overflow of water and mud had caused traffic congestion and difficulties for households in daily life. The two major airports: Haneda and Narita, which were important transshipment routes for Japanese aviation, had to cancel more than 2,000 domestic and international flights.
By the afternoon of October 14, the death toll had increased to 52, 18 people were missing, 168 were injured in 11 provinces. The area where many people (16) died and went missing was Fukushima province. According to statistics from Japan's Ministry of Health and Labor, about 136,000 houses were inundated, 700 houses were partially collapsed. Hundreds of households had no electricity. 38,000 people were evacuated, of which Saitama province were the most with more than 10,000 people. More than 4,330,000 people were affected by the railways that operated partly or reduced trips.
Ms. Asano Kazuko, from Utsunomia City, Tochigi province, said it was the first time in her life that she had witnessed such a big typhoon hit Japan. She said the area where she lived in floods from October 12 until 14 were still rising with water. Although her house was high, it was not flooded, but the food was almost gone. Because there were only two old people in the family, they did not dare to go out to buy goods, so the life was very difficult.
Mr. Toshihiko Takao, who lived in Saitama, said: "My house has collapsed. I live alone, but my age is old. I really lost it all”
Human love in the typhoon
As often responding to natural disasters, it seems that each Japanese has a strange knowledge and calm even during the "most deadly moment".
On the shelves of many supermarket goods were empty. A mother took a baby to go shopping. It seemed that the baby liked meat, because when arriving the supermarket, they went straight to the meat stall. There were no longer a tray of meat. Turned to the vegetable stand, there were also no vegetables, only two or three bundles of onions. In front of the old man, an 90 year old man had just taken the last bunch of vegetables. He trudged past the noodle stall and saw the mother and her son. They said something, and then the old man put the vegetable bundle in the mother's basket. The baby waved to the old man. Noodles shops also did not pack. He turned to the bakery.
There were about 30 people lined up for payment. Outdoors, it were in heavy rain, the wind whistled. At the end of the line there were some old persons with sticks, but no one jostled, patiently lining up. The cashier's smile still cracked.
The typhoon went away. At night, the Japanese government dispatched 27,000 people as police officers and self-defense forces to 22 localities where typhoons went to help the people. Major Japanese phone companies such as NTT, KDDI, Softbank had opened wireless service for free for their citizens. A series of free food and water spots were being carried out by many organizations.
A Panama ship sank in the Tokyo port area on the night of October 12, carrying 12 Chinese, Myanmar and Vietnamese crew members. The ship was rescued by the Japanese Coast Guard, but unfortunately one Vietnamese crew member were still missing. Mr. Pham Van Duc, a crew member was rescued and was recovering gradually.
In the provinces of Saitama, Yamanashi, Ibaraki, Nagano, Fukushima ... the flooding situation was getting worse. The death toll continued to rise. Many nursing homes did not have power and clean water, and food were limited due to isolation. But that did not scare the Japanese people. They still smiled happily, diligently cleaned up. Perhaps that spirit was inspired by the harshness of nature and heroes from the Samurai and the Japanese spirit. How brutal nature is, the more persistent and calm the person is./.
