Of seagulls and flowers

Pastor K told the team a story about seagulls that lived on the islets off the coast of Kesennuma.

The seagulls loved to flock to the islets to lay their eggs and breed their youngs. The seagulls created such a din that the locals living along the coast found them a menace.

A photo retrieved from the debris of M-san’s house right by the coast. Seagulls were on the islets in the background.

 

Strangely, on 10 March 2011, a day before the tsunami, not a single seagull could be sighted and the coast was unusually quiet.

The next day, tsunami waves higher than the trees on the islets came crashing onto the shores of Kesennuma.

Did the seagulls sense something threatening was about to happen?

Since then, the seagulls had not returned to the coast.

The coast was gravely silent without the cries of the seagulls, as if in mourning.

It was not till late April, some 3-5 days before the team’s arrival, that the seagulls returned to breed and stay on some of the islets and the coast again.

M-san's house used to stand here. Foreground: One of the piles of debris sorted by the team. Background, far right: Seagulls had returned to the islets.

 

Now, the noisy seagulls brought peace of mind to the locals.

I understood from this story that God had endowed animals with special instincts to preserve their species.

Psalm 36:6  Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.

Another sign of hope was that many wild spring flowers were blooming again in the tsunami swept land. Life had found a way of returning to the barren land! Spring may be late, but it came afterall!