According to NHK, A kindergarten school, in Miyagi Prefecture, was supposed to be safe from tsunami, according to an official tsunami danger zone map. The official map was wrong.

When the 9.0 quake hit on March 11, school officials knew a tsunami was coming, but they though they were safe.  In fact, they kept the children at school because their homes were actually closer to the ocean than the school.

Parents were called to come and get their kids, if they wanted. All the children were loaded onto buses, to wait for their parents.  When it became clear that the tsunami was going to sweep over the school, teachers began grabbing kids off the buses. One girl was pulled off in the nick off time, by her hair. She watched as the tsunami swept away her friends still on the bus.

One of the buses was found at a house. The woman of the house tried to save the kids on the bus. They scrambled for the 2nd floor of the home. 17 children were saved, but two kids died along with the woman.  Their bodies were found in the yard. The house was filled with items washed in from the school.