Peering out the window on my flight into Nari ta Airport , I saw objects floating in the ocean off the coast of Japan. At first, I thought this was mere garbage that had floated in from the Pacific but as the plane descended, I saw that in the ocean were roofs of houses, cars and other objects that only weeks before had been indispensable parts of people’s lives. It was not until this moment that I understood the enormity of the disaster that had befallen the nation that only one year prior I had called home.

Oftentimes disaster arises somewhere in the world and we sympathise with the affected peoples and mobilise our best efforts to help those unfortunate souls as quickly and effectively as possible. While this is true on the macro scale, our response is usually limited to some token monetary donation to a large organisation.