Visiting the Okawa Elementary school was heartbreaking and devastating to hear about and even more so when visiting. When researching this tragic incident for my background paper, I was not prepared for how emotional I would get and how it would affect me. I was shocked with how upset I was getting when reading the details. I could not believe that the students could have been saved if they had gone up the hill and the teachers didn’t tell them to come back to the courtyard.
On our way to the school looking outside the bus window it seemed like a normal small town until we reached the parking lot of the school. When approaching the school I could see the debris and damage that had occurred. It was surrounded by many tall trees and a large forest behind. Looking in front of the forest you could see a platform on a hill. This is the point where the stu
dents would have been safe had they made the climb up the hill. As I looked down from the hill I could imagine what the school looked like before the destruction with kids playing in the courtyard which broke my heart.
The father speaking about how he lost his daughter in the tsunami brought me to tears while we were walking around listening to him speak. It is so difficult to imagine how the parents of the children that passed away had felt, they dropped off their kids to school that day unaware that they would not see them again. One of the things the storyteller had mentioned that stood out to me was that people need to have a mental “switch” in their heads to get ready in an emergency. It is a lot easier said than done, but it taught me a lot about emergency preparedness and how you have to have the proper mentality. Normally, when I hear about people talking about being prepared for difficult situations they mention the practical and physical readiness but they fail to discuss how you have to be mentally ready which can be the difference of life or death. In addition, the situation emphasized having proper communication and the importance of community resilience. I am thankful for the experience of visiting Okawa Elementary school and I will keep the students and the teacher that lost their lives that day in my heart. 