KUMAMOTO -- With July 17 marking two weeks since the start of the record-level rainfall that hit the Kyushu region, which caused heavy damage due to flooding and landslides, residents in Kumamoto Prefecture have been doing their best to stay positive while working toward restoration.
Residents of the city of Hitoyoshi within the prefecture have begun reaffirming their communal bonds as they work toward recovery.
Fumiko Fuchigami, a 73-year-old assistant leader of a neighborhood association, Thursday found the floor of a room of a Hitoyoshi community center to be covered with mud. She said that weekly luncheons and birthday parties were typically held there.
Despite her warnings to those in the area to "run away no matter what," there were a few deaths in the area. "We live in a community with a strong bond," Fuchigami said. "We have to help each other out."
In the village of Kuma in the same prefecture, Yumiko Nakagami, 70, said Monday that she found a vase made from glass in the debris of her home, which had been washed away by the torrential rain.
Nakagami said the vase, which remained unbroken, is a memento of her sister, who loved flowers. She removed mud from the vase with water that was running along the side of a road in the village.
"I couldn't find any photos or anything, but I believe that this vase may be a sign that my sister left me in the hopes that I would continue flower arranging with it," she said.
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