2011 tsunami hit Minamisanriku to open a Memorial Park

2011 tsunami hit Minamisanriku to open a Memorial Park

Sawako Utsumi and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

The tragedy of March 11, 2011, will never be forgotten because of the sheer brutality of the Great East Japan Earthquake (2011 Tohoku Earthquake).

Indeed, the convulsions of the potency of the earthquake triggered the tsunami that killed so many. At the same time, a nuclear disaster erupted in Fukushima. Therefore, March 11, and the following months, were about death, sorrow, fear, looking for missing people, finding shelter, and other important factors.

Many years later and still thousands are missing. Thus, the real death toll is over 18,000 people. Meanwhile, housing problems remain and the nuclear issue is unsolved.

Memorials in several areas have sprung up for people to pay respect and to remember. Hence, Minamisanriku (Minami Sanriku) in Miyagi prefecture will open a special memorial park next week in the district of Shizugawa.

It is known that over 800 people perished because of the brutal tsunami in Minamisanriku. Similarly, Ishinomaki was hit the hardest in terms of deaths. Therefore, so many people died because of the tsunami triggered by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Memorial parks, including in Minamisanriku, are about paying respect, remembering the aftereffects, images of how respective places looked before the tsunami, and connecting with the past and now.  Equally important, they are signs of hope despite all the sadness.

Therefore, the new memorial park in Minamisanriku – and others – are about sadness, remembering, and renewal.

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