In one city, Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, there are 26 statues. They represent the bodies who could not be identified. 1,555 residents of Rikuzentakata died on March 11, 2011.
Al Jazerra Rikuzentakata report.
Visit Foreign Volunteers Japan.
In Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture, relief volunteers are still working there one year later. Before they started yet another day of work, 300 volunteers gave a sunrise prayer for the thousands of missing and dead.
Minamisanriku Town was one of the hardest hit by the tsunami. It’s where Miki Endo stayed at her Disaster Center post blasting evacuation orders over the town’s loudspeaker system, until the tsunami blasted away the three story building she was in. Watch haunting Japanese video report here: Minamisanriku, hometown of Heroine Miki Endo is becoming Atlantis
But Miki was not alone in that Disaster Center, she had dozens of co-workers as well as her boss, all hoping they could help.
One co-worker was at the hill top Evacuation Center, but he couldn’t bear seeing what was happening and returned to the Disaster Center. He led many of his co-workers to the top of the three story building, unfortunately the tsunami was four stories tall, and all were killed.
The skeletal remains of the Disaster Center has become a shrine.
Visit savemiyagi.org.
Don’t forget the eight firefighters of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture. The 57 year old firefighter, Fujio Koshita, rang a warning bell even as the tsunami headed right for him! Seven other firefighters died helping people get to higher ground.
They say Fujio violated his own rule about personal safety: “Don’t die. Rescuers must stay alive.”
Watch the Brian Barnes video of Otsuchi tsunami. In the video you can see that water levels rose even before the tsunami hit, it caught videographers by surprise. At 6:20 into the video they realize the city was already flooding. At 8:00 in the tsunami finally hits, you can hear cracking sounds as buildings break.
Visit otsuchi.org
According to the latest official Japanese government numbers, more than 19,000 people were killed. Many more are still without permanent places to live. 3,000 people are still listed as missing. I’m sure there are many dozens of other heroes and heroines that we will never hear about. But true heroes never die: “…The fireman was brave. I’m proud of him.”-16 year old Kaito Yamasaki