Kirk here. Today I got an e-mail from Lily McDermott & Chase Sutherland, who have been doing yeoman’s work in summarizing important COVID-19 information for us. Their e-mail starts with a summary of how this is the 5th anniversary of the quakes and continues as follows:
“To mark this important milestone, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has created a video to share about Kumamoto’s recovery to the world, and we have been asked to share that video with everyone. A former Kumamoto JET, Sara Kubota, makes a feature appearance. Sara provided critical information to the foreign community over social media in the aftermath of the earthquake.
You can check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qn2zLjh04E "
The primary “social media” referred to is this page. Sara got an award for her work from U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, in part because she did good work and in part because she had registered in advance as a “warden” (someone who helps the consulate get the word out to expats in the area, not a jailer ;) ) for the U.S. consulate in Fukuoka.
The video is beautifully done, and, of course, Sara’s comments are spot on. If you have a computer, please watch it full screen.
