Sister Eugenie Fumiko Fujita went to bed toward the end of last year's rainy season, her life enlivened by a month of mold but still basically in order. She awoke before dawn July 8 to mayhem, her home hanging off the edge of a landslip.
"Disturbed by noise and lights," she recalls, gleeful to be telling the tale yet again, "I looked out to see half my house -- 50 cu. meters of debris and dirt -- had fallen onto that of a neighbor 7 meters below. Luckily the woman wasn't home at the time, or she'd have died."
Forced to evacuate, there followed a miraculous 21 days of beautiful weather, which dried up the damage a treat. "I was able to rescue most of my furniture and possessions." Fumiko then had to wait for construction firms to submit estimates for clearing up the mess.