Rika Kayama (Mainichi)

       A large earthquake recently jolted the Kanto region. At the time, I was writing a manuscript in a small office I rent near my house, and there was no serious damage -- only a few books fell from my bookshelf.

       After continuing my work for a while, I went to leave my office to go home, only to find the elevator had stopped. The office is on a relatively high floor, and the stairs were only dimly lit, so I didn't feel like going down.

       In the end I stayed overnight, and in the morning, I spent a long time going down the stairs to go to work at the hospital. It was at this time that I thought, "I wonder if the people who arrived from outside last night made it up here safely." Immediately after the earthquake, I was so focused on myself that I didn't have the capacity to think about whether other people were OK.

       When I visited Hokkaido, which was severely damaged by the earthquake in the eastern Iburi region three years ago, a person from a town near the epicenter of the quake shared a story with me.

       "I don't remember being in great trouble, even though the power and water outages were great challenges. We shared gasoline, food, and other necessities with each other and tried to reach out to those who needed it the most," they told me.

       The person, who works at a local hospital, also said that as soon as the tremors subsided, they rushed to the hospital to check if everything was OK. "I didn't do it because I was a staff member; I just did it instinctively," they said.

       Of course, I don't mean to say here that people in big cities are self-centered and people in rural areas are more considerate of each other. There are many kind people in Tokyo, and not all people living in rural areas are good, either.

       However, I think that if you live in an area where it's easy to meet each other face-to-face on a daily basis, you can remember those people, wondering if they're OK in the event of an emergency. In my situation, where I don't even know what kind of people live on the same floor as me, it's hard to even think, "Is anyone having trouble with the stairs?"

       Living in a city where no one can interfere with you and you can behave freely is certainly very comfortable. However, in an emergency situation, we cannot help each other enough. If you're injured in your home and if you are alone, you have no choice but to call an ambulance yourself.

       I wondered if it would be possible for people who usually live at a comfortable distance like in the city to build relationships where they are considerate to each other, such as in rural areas in times of an emergency. While thinking about this, I gently rubbed my feet under my desk at the hospital, to relieve the soreness from walking down the stairs. Even if there is no major damage, disasters can teach us many lessons.

       (Japanese original by Rika Kayama, psychiatrist)

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