On one of our final days in Japan, we visited a hospital and the former site of the Okawa Elementary School, which, in my mind, highlighted the importance of emergency preparedness. We began the day by traveling by bus to the Ishinomaki Hospital, a hospital that was prepared for emergencies, like the earthquake and tsunami it faced in 2011. We heard from several staff members about how after the earthquake struck, they almost immediately started preparing triage and how to best help the patients who would be coming in soon. From what I understood, the hospital was the only one in the area capable of handling the patients, and that was prepared for the disaster. They set up triage with four colors. Red needed immediate attention and was life-threatening, yellow was serious but not immediately life-threatening, green was patients that had minor injuries, and black meant that that patient had passed away. I was surprised to learn that although the hospital practiced for emergencies, they said they only did it once a year. I had thought it would at least be twice, but that practice truly helped them navigate was disaster struck in 2011. We were shown equipment used during the disaster. One of the items they showed was cardboard beds which were utilized as it was helpful for those who were injured and elderly to get up. And tents that could fit cardboard beds to provide privacy and, if needed, isolation. In one of the tents shown, there was a battery-operated toilet with a bag at the bottom to catch waste as sometimes water isn’t available. 
Next, we heard from a Nurse who described what it was like in the shelters after the disaster. She stated that the most common infectious diseases were norovirus and influenza. A way to combat this was hygiene practices that sometimes become overlooked in emergencies. She stated that one of the things that she wishes is different for the next is that individuals practice good hygiene and for there to be dedicated people to teach and promote good hygiene practices.
After visiting the hospital, we made our way to the former site of the Okawa Elementary School. The drive was scenic, as the river and mountains provided a beautiful backdrop. However, once we got closer to the site, it was clear that the area never fully recovered after the tsunami. Once we were there, the ruins of the elementary school were startling against the scenic views of the river in front of it and the mountains behind it. 
We had an amazing storyteller tell us about the tragedy that happened at the site. And how the teachers had 51 minutes to decide where to evacuate the students after the earthquake, but because there was no plan in place for this situation, the teachers debated the best place to go, tragically wasting precious minutes that could have been used for evacuation. One of the difficult things about this disaster is that water would be coming from two places, from the river and the ocean, making deciding where to evacuate more confusing. 
According to the storyteller, one teacher advocated for going up the hill behind the school with a few students to investigate to ease the other teachers’ worries, but then it was too late. She said that if the hill was chosen as the evacuation location earlier but would have taken less than a minute for people to climb up it. Tragically, seventy-four people lost their lives, including several teachers. Rightfully, some parents pursued legal action to understand what happened. Unfortunately, people in power tried to twist the words of the survivors, but the parents one their case. I can only hope that in the future, sufficient natural disaster plans will be in place as preparedness saves lives. I also hope that the teacher who survived can one day find peace because the storyteller said he was struggling and isolated himself from the community.
