Cat Island Update

In the immediate aftermath of the Earthquake and Tsunami I was introduced the the occupants of Cat Island. As the Island is remote it took many days for aid to get to the Island to see if it was still in one piece. Initial reports were brief. The people and cats of the Island survived but were in desperate need of food and supplies.

There were no updates about how the cats actually were doing or what was going on with the people living there. The reports have finally been trickling out and for the most part the Island did remain intact and it seems that there were no fatalities but it is something the people will never forget. They were basically stranded on the island with no way off for supplies and few options to contact the outside world. The cats where alive but hiding and scared and the people were slowly running out of food as they rely heavily on the ferry to bring food to them and the ferry could not run there was too much debris in the water.

Once the Ferry was running again reporters were able to take brief trips over to the Island. Fear remained that with all the tremors and  after shocks that another Tsunami would hit Cat Island and they would be stranded again. The residents most of whom are older were worried and upset not only for themselves because it takes time to walk to higher ground on the Island but for the cats who were already traumatized. The ground has now stopped shaking as often but the residents of Cat Island say they have never in their entire life felt an Earthquake last so long or shake the ground the way this one did. They fear that this prolonged Earthquake will be what Earthquakes in their region are like from now on. They know things could have been much worse and so are thankful that everyone on the Island survived and the cats were able to stay safe.

Life is returning to normal again and the cats are coming around for feeding time. They seem healthy and apparently have developed quite an appetite as they are more hungry then usual. The residents of cat Island aren’t sure if it is a sign that there is more to come or if it is just because the cats refused to eat for some time after the Earthquake and Tsunami and are making up for lost time. The residents say the cats are more visible again and they feel happy about that.

They are saying that even though the Ferry is running that until the tremors stop completely that it is not a very good idea to come and visit the island as a tourist. If the Ferry is shut down again there is no way off the Island and only private residences and some shops for cover. After the Tsunami visitors had to be rescued by Helicopter in order to leave the Island and that took about 8 days to make happen (at least that is what the translation of the article said). The Island is remote and the only way on or off is via the Ferry so residents are right to worry as they know people enjoy coming to their Island to visit the cats and have a relaxing day and would like to be able to visit now in order to get away for a day from everything that is going on around them.

They want everyone to know they are safe and that the cats of Cat Island are being cared for.

For the original articles written in Japanese:
http://response.jp/article/2011/04/06/154405.html
http://response.jp/article/2011/04/04/154264.html