Our program had the privilege to visit Okawa Elementary School which had been overcome by the 2011 Tohuku Earthquake and Tsunami. This disaster decimated the school’s buildings, leaving them in ruins, and took the lives of 74 students and 10 teachers. We learned about this through our background research but seeing the school and listening to the story in person was absolutely heart wrenching.
The area has been cleaned up and preserved despite the main building being torn open and exposing the rooms inside. The storyteller first gave us a tour of the classrooms, playrooms, and even the little wash basin outside. Everything seemed so vacant with only a few objects symbolizing the joy those rooms used to hold. She then led us into the central part of the school where the kids would meet after school before heading back home. The muddy black water marks stain the building’s ceiling, showing us how the tsunami nearly engulfed it whole. The storyteller gave us a breakdown of what happened that day, from the earthquake protocols to the events right before the disastrous tsunami.
After a long day of earthquake protocols, the students were getting ready to go back home. But they didn’t know what tragedy was about to come until the guard warned them about the tsunami. The students gathered outside on a path as the teachers discussed evacuation plans. One teacher protested that they evacuate to the hills while ten others disagreed saying it was too dangerous. They led the students to the river as an alternative plan not knowing the tsunami was streaming in from there. The tsunami wiped out the town, including the school, with only four students and one teacher managing to survive. This incident has such devastating consequences when the hill was a possible, and even the safest evacuation plan.
The details like how freezing cold it was and how the students didn’t even have a chance to put on coats and shoes kept playing through my mind. I was so shocked to find out how easy it was to walk and climb the hill and how the wide platform could’ve safely occupied everyone. The storyteller also opened up about the loss of her son to the earthquake and I deeply admired her strength. Despite this being an agonizing loss, she used it to teach us a lesson to always save ourselves during an earthquake. I’m so grateful she can tell these stories as a mental outlet and we had the opportunity to listen to her about the tragedy at Okawa Elementary School.