JITR(Japan Institute of Tourism Research)-Tohoku

日本観光研究学会東北支部 Newsletter

東北 紀行
Tohoku Travelogue
第 23 号/2018 年 3 月/編集:山口泰史(東北公益文科大学)

Photo 1. Water level higher than land

Hurricane Katrina tour in New Orleans

The tour bus visited the New Basin Canal
Lighthouse on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain thatwas devastated by the hurricane and reconstructed
in 2013 as a small museum and souvenir shop. We
could learn more through the guide there.
From the bus window we watched pumping houses
and homes that were heavily damaged by flooding
after the levees were broken. Now the levees werereconstructed, but we could tell the surface of waterin the canal was higher than the land at Levee Break
Memorial Garden (Photo 1).
As the last part of the tour of 3.5 hours we visited“Morning Call” café in City Park where we had
typical sweet beignets with a lot of white sugar on top
and café-au-lait.

Yasushi Maruoka
Randolph-Macon CollegeIshinomaki Senshu University
Hurricane Katrina Tour
"There are two types of levees (Figure). The I-Wall
type has a wall and sheet piling in the shape of theletter ‘I’. The T-Wall type has a wall in the shape of a
‘T’ and bars that support the wall. The T-Walls arestronger, but many I-Walls were used in this city.
The reason is ...money." Daniel, our tour guide, told
us sadly.
He said he studied history and education in auniversity. With his background I thought he learned
thisinformation
duringtherecoveryorreconstruction process of the city. At the same time I
remembered how little I had known about disasters
before the earthquake and tsunami in 2011 in Japan,
when I myself became one of the tsunami victims.
The explanation made by Daniel in the bus was apart of the "Disaster Katrina tour" (Gray Line) thatwas conducted on January 6, 2018. Rain and wind ofHurricane Katrina brought big damage to the city ofNew Orleans in August 29, 2005. 1,836 people died in
the storm. It changed the lives of many survivors aswell. I thought Daniel, who has been brought up in
this city, might not have become a tour guide if there
had not been the disaster.
The twelve participants of the tour quietly andcarefully listened to his explanations. When Daniel
explained how heavy it rained in inches, a participant
asked him how much it was in centimeters. I thought
he was from outside of the United States. The
phenomena that many foreign people visit the area
after the big disaster was what happened and ispossibly what is happening in Tohoku, too.

My stay in Virginia
Besides my short trip to New Orleans, I haveprincipally stayed in Ashland, Virginia since August
2017. I live on the campus of the Randolph-Macon
College (http://www.rmc.edu).
My stay in Virginia was an unexpected one. Thiswas caused by the earthquake and tsunami thatstruck Tohoku in March 11, 2011. In the disaster anAmerican woman, twenty-four year old Ms. Taylor
Anderson passed away. Randolph-Macon College washer alma mater. After graduating from the college,
she became an English teacher of JET（The Japan
Exchange and Teaching Programme ） and was in
Ishinomaki city. On the day of the earthquake, shehelped evacuations of students and after that she waskilled by the tsunami.
After the disaster some teachers and students ofRandolph-Macon College began to visit Ishinomakicity (sponsored by Taylor Anderson Memorial Fundand TOMODACHI). Teachers of Ishinomaki Senshu
University, including myself, gave them informationon the disaster and reconstruction process. During
the visits professor Dr. Lauren Bell asked if anyone
would like to volunteer to give lectures at RandolphMacon College as a Fulbright scholar. I applied forthe position and fortunately was accepted.
On the Randolph-Macon College campus there isan open air memorial bench with Ms. Taylor’s nameplate(Photo 2). In my Randolph-Macon classroom I
showed students pictures of the disaster area ofTohoku and told them what happened and what welearned after the disaster. Explaining the disaster isthe one of main reasons I am here.

Figure: I-Wall and T-Wall
I-WallCanalI

Levee

Canal

T-WallT

Levee

Sheet Piling
Sheet Piling
Source: Elaboration based on the leaflet of Gray Line-1-

JITR(Japan Institute of Tourism Research)-Tohoku

there to learn more about Katrina.
At the entrance there was a display of a broken
piano and a costume worn during Mardi Gras (Photo3). I understood these were symbols of thereconstruction and culture the citizens are proud of.
New Orleans is well known for Jazz and fusion ofcultures.
On the first floor there are technologicalexplanations of the disaster. A video showed us themechanism of destruction of the levees. Several
patterns in a screen were set to show how the flood
waters broke them. I understood levees can bebreached even when they look like hills, if the inside
structure allows the penetration of water under it.
These exhibitions also reminded me of the fact westudied a lot about the tsunami after 2011 in
Ishinomaki city. Very few people knew even the now
famous saying “tsunami tendenko” (In case of atsunami escape by yourself, since there is no time tohelp others.) before the disaster. We didn’t care about
breakwaters in Ishinomaki city.
On the second floor there were exhibitions on
Mardi Gras: masks, costumes, floats and throws thatwere used in the parade. In the reconstruction
process people needed this famous cultural event as
an expression of their spirit. Having this will
strengthen the citizen’s will to reconstruct the city.
This was a part of “resilience” of the city that pushes
back the disaster.
Looking at exhibitions of Mardi Gras reminded meof “Kawabiraki Matsuri” Opening River festival inIshinomaki city. In the summer of 2011 five months
after the disaster we held the festival. I think thatwas the spirit of citizens of Ishinomaki city. I
remember some people were sobbing along theKitakami River, looking at lanterns on the float goingaway. I guessed they were families of the dead. In thesame way I imagined many people in New Orleansshed tears, looking at Mardi Gras parade in 2006.
I wish reconstruction and development of two cities
go well.

Photo 2. Bench for Ms. Taylor Anderson
Commonalities of two disasters
As hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and tsunami
in Tohoku were principally caused by water, there
were commonalities in the forms of the disaster andin the challenges of reconstruction. When I looked at
the picture of New Orleans taken from the sky after
Katrina, which shows most (80%) of the city wasflooded, I couldn’t help remembering the Ishinomaki
city after the tsunami.
In the disaster tour Daniel told us what had
happened in New Orleans. Alarmed by the bighurricane, many people tried to escape by cars andthis caused traffic jams. Many cars became trash.
Boats were washed up on the ground and intobuildings. The evacuation spot of last resort,
Louisiana Superdome, was so full of evacuees and souncomfortable that mass
media publishedexaggerated stories of homicides and robberies. One
person, who became desperate, killed himself. People
criticized the slow reaction of FEMA(Federal
Emergency Management Agency) and praised therescue activity of the coast guards. The difference inthe land height was a crucial factor that decided thedegree of damage. Insurance was a key to financereconstruction.
Other facts I knew were also similar to Ishinomaki
city. Big bridge on the lake was broken. As levees
were destroyed, the low land of the city was flooded,
but the famous downtown area the French Quarter
survived, because of its high elevation. Among thedead a high percentage was aged. Most reconstructedhouses in the flooded area have been rebuilt withelevated ground floors now. Reconstructions are stillgoing on, but many people left the city.
Many volunteers gathered in New Orleans.
Randolph-Macon College also organized a team tosupport recovery in New Orleans as a part of several
courses. Three teachers and 24 students rode on thebus to New Orleans. It took 18 hours to get there.
They helped cleaning houses there.
Debris, boats on the ground, blue tarps, shelters,
frustration of victims, the fact that small differencesof terrain made big differences in damages,
population decrease, volunteers…these aspects
reminded me of the case of Ishinomaki city.

Photo 3. Broken piano and Mardi Gras costume<Annotation> I offer my condolences to the families

Mardi Gras
The Presbytère, Louisiana State Museum, in frontof the Jackson square in New Orleans had anexhibition titled ”Living with Hurricanes: Katrinaand Beyond”. On the next day of the tour I visitedand the friends of the victims of Hurricane Katrina andthe Great East Japan Earthquake, especially those ofMs. Taylor Anderson. I greatly appreciate the Fulbrightprogram, Randolph-Macon College and Ishinomaki
Senshu University for supporting my stay in the USA.
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