すでに、ニュースで報道されているのでご存知だと思いますが、アメリカも捜索救助隊を派遣しています。

今日、日曜日、本州沖合いに空母ロナルドレーガンが到着しました。それと並行して、バージニアとロサンジェルスから、捜索救助隊２チーム、総勢１５０人が派遣されいています。さらに生存者を見つけるため１２匹の捜索犬もいっしょのようですね。

オバマさんも、この震災と津波に対して、個人的な気持ちを話しました。

“I’m heartbroken by this tragedy.”

“I think when you see what’s happening in Japan you are reminded that for all our differences in culture or language or religion, that ultimately humanity is one.”

そして．．．

“When we face these kinds of natural disasters, whether it’s in New Zealand or Haiti or Japan, then you think about your own family and you think how would you feel if you lost a loved one, or if your entire lifesavings were gone because of the devastation.

And the Japanese people are such close friends of ours, and I have such a close personal friendship and connection to the Japanese people — in part because I grew up in Hawaii where I was very familiar with Japanese culture — that that just makes our concerns that much more acute.

But I am very confident, though, obviously, that the Japanese people are so resourceful, Japan is such a powerful economy and such an advanced economy technologically, that Japan will successfully rebuild. And it has experience dealing with natural disasters. It has dealt with them before and will deal with them again. And Japan, I’m sure, will come back stronger than ever — hopefully with our help.”

— from USA Today —

米国内ではいろいろと風当たりの強いオバマさんですが、このような話を聞くと、それが仮に「嘘」であっても、好感を持ちますね。同世代の私には、メンターになって欲しい存在です。