Today’s episode of Planet Earth: Our Loving Home is the conclusion of a three-part series examining the complete destruction of numerous Japanese coastal communities following the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake off the northeastern coast of Japan.

I was at home. And when I was trying to pour kerosene from a drum can to another container outside, the earthquake happened. Therefore I was not able to enter my house. I ran away to the Shinto shrine…

The 9.0 magnitude earthquake, was the world’s fourth-largest since 1900 and generated an immense, deadly tsunami that thundered down on the coast just minutes after the catastrophic seismic event.

I was running away from the tsunami with my cousin. I was really scared as the tsunami was charging at me.

Entire seaside towns were utterly flattened, with waves up to 38-meters high recorded. Many of these were fishing ports.

Would you tell us how the tsunami struck Rikuzentakata city at that time?

At that time I was in the three-story city office, and even when I went to the flat roof of the building, the tsunami went over the top. It was far bigger than what we could have imagined. The point is that we had six meter high breakwaters to protect the port from a tidal wave. But they were still destroyed.

The extremely traumatic events of March 11 and the ensuing chaos-filled weeks are seared in the memories of Japan’s 127 million people. As of Thursday, April 7, 2011 the Japanese National Police had confirmed over 12,690 fatalities, with more than 14,000 people officially reported as missing.

However, it is thought that the number of dead and missing following the disaster is over 100,000 as entire communities now no longer exist and whole families have been swept into the sea, with no survivors to report them as gone.

Also as of Thursday, April 7, ReliefWeb reports 188,000 are still displaced with most staying at 2,200 evacuation centers spread across 17 prefectures. The vast majority of the victims are in northeast Japan’s Tohoku region, in the hardest-hit prefectures of Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi.

I come here to get water. My day starts with this.

Basically because of the earthquake disaster, the quantity of the goods arriving has been reduced to less than half.

Prior to the March 11 tragedy, the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture was a coastal whaling base. The port’s whale processing facility was swept away by the tsunami.

We came to see the house of our mother’s parents. It is an unbelievable situation. I cannot help but stand petrified in utter amazement. The house is gone without a trace. I never imagined it like this. I thought at least a pillar and a roof might have remained. But everything was wiped out. I was shocked.

Every house was taken. A port district and the island nearby were destroyed entirely and received considerable damage. As of today (April 2, 2011), about 2,400 people are dead, and about 2,700 people are missing.

In the case of Ishinomaki, it is a really crushing situation. The fishing port of Ishinomaki and the complex housing the fish processing have been almost destroyed.

In Ishinomaki, how many people are there engaging in fishing-related activities?

I hear that there are about 3,700 people engaging in fishing-related activities. There is a great deal of coastal fishing and laver (seaweed) harvesting and the culture of oyster businesses passing from parent to child from generation to generation.

A detailed survey has yet to be carried out, but as reported in Japan’s The Business and Technology Daily News, damage to fisheries and aquaculture production in Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi prefectures is estimated to be in the realm of US$1.3 billion a year. Masanori Miyahara, Deputy Director-General of the central government’s Japan Fisheries Agency now explains the extent of the losses incurred by the fishing industry in the Tohoku region’s Sanriku Coast.

Generally speaking, the fish catches from the main fishing ports in the Sanriku region account for about 20% of the total fish catch of Japan. Then if we add the production grounds around Sanriku, it means that 30 to 40% of the fish catch of Japan has been affected in all.

How about the cultivation facilities in the damaged fishing ports?

In this Sanriku region, wakame or brown seaweed, oysters, coho salmon, and like were cultivated in the sea, but most of the cultivation facilities were swept away.

How many fishing boats were damaged?

It varies according to the area, but in both Iwate and Miyagi prefecture where damages were particularly devastating, there are 20,000 fishing boats. However, most of them have been damaged.

The situation of fishing ports is as desperate as fishing boats. Most fishing ports of the three prefectures, namely, Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima, were completely destroyed. There are about 260 fishing ports, but all of them were devastated, and it is not possible to use them.

Rebuilding Japan’s northern fishing fleet would take billions of US dollars and several years, in part because Japan’s capacity to build and repair boats also has been affected. Kesennuma city in Miyagi Prefecture once had many specialized operations that built and maintained boats as well as constructed and repaired equipment for fishing boats. All these facilities have been decimated by the tsunami. Literally every segment of the Japanese fishing industry has been impacted by the tsunami.

We land the fish catches, and there is a fish market, the processing, and industries catering to fishing boats because those towns are structured by whole industries related to fishing. So if any part of the town is damaged, the whole town doesn’t function.

Since the seafood processing factories for refrigeration in this neighborhood were also destroyed, various fish from those factories flowed in all over the city.

I understand that almost all fish-related companies, meaning all the companies around here, were totally destroyed?

Yes, whichever companies had low-lying locations were totally destroyed. Since such factories are mostly located along the shoreline, I believe almost all must have been ruined.

We are aquaculturists. And what we do is cultivate oysters, scallops, and the like under the sea after hanging them from rafts for aquaculture. Though there were plenty of oyster rafts around in the sea, they have entirely disappeared. Not a single fishing boat is left.

According to what the (National Federation of) Fisheries Cooperative (Associations) examined, I hear that the damage was US$227.5 million excluding the damage to the fishing ports.

Do you mean that the unloading of fish is no longer going on, and the fish market is already closed?

Of course. The tsunami not only affected this city, but also other neighboring local towns. So I don’t think there is any possibility of fish coming in or aquacultured fish coming in.

However, no matter how hard the government may try, I think it is almost impossible for the fishing industry to recover in three years or five years.

On top of the fact the fishing industry in northeastern Japan has been essentially wiped out, there have been releases of radiation into the ocean from the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in Fukushima Prefecture. In response many Japanese are shunning fish and shellfish due to the possibility of consuming radiation-poisoned marine life.

Also, many nations have imposed bans of varying degrees of severity on imports of Japanese seafood. Given these circumstances, many feel the region’s fishing and aquaculture industries do not have a future.

May I ask your occupation?

I am engaged in the oyster culture business.

How long have you been engaged in your business?

Well, for 40 years.

May I ask about your future plans?

Yes, I am already 70 years old, so I have already decided to give up this business. Because we can’t continue fishing in this situation.

I understand many people here have been engaged in oyster culture businesses and fishing here and the businesses were terminally damaged by the disaster. What are you all going do in the future?

All are grieving over their unclear future. Because they have no ship, no car, no house, and all the tools for aquaculture were also washed away. It seems it will take three years for oysters to grow, so they must be insecure what to do for the next three years. Even for our family who is not in the oyster culture business, it will be difficult. So I think for those who are cultivating oysters, it must be more serious.

Because most of us are in our 60s, I think the number of oyster suppliers itself will be considerably decreased. I think many people will give up the oyster business.

Will the young people think of changing their occupation?

I think so. The situation seems very severe. When we think about the future of fishing, we cannot clearly see our way. So, I understand young people might well think of changing their occupation.

The cataclysm in Japan clearly demonstrates the delicate balance of our biosphere. On many occasions, Supreme Master Ching Hai has addressed the rising number of natural catastrophes seen around the world.

It’s not just the earthquakes, it’s not just the tsunami, it’s not just the typhoon, it’s not just the cyclone, it’s the rising sea levels as well.

And such extreme weather patterns that include extensive flooding along with prolonged droughts. It’s easy to see the many forms of environmental harm that are linked to this killing industry, which we call meat consumerism: the mass murder of billions, billions of innocent animals’ lives.

The vegan diet protects us from inside out, starting immediately, so that all kinds of calamities will avoid us, stay away from us. And on a bigger scale, our planet will also be healed. Just like an individual being healed by turning to a compassionate diet – like attracts like. The good, loving, compassionate energy will ward off the darkness that is looming toward us, that is next to us right now.

With our condolences to the many families who have lost loved ones in this disaster, we pray that the survivors will quickly recover and soon return to safe peaceful lives as we all will ponder what lesson should we learn from all these warning signs: as it seems that Heavens want us to leave all marine beings in peace as we'd like to be ourselves in peace.

Thank you for joining us today on our program. Enlightening Entertainment is up next after Noteworthy News. May all be blessed and protected in Heaven’s grace.