3 years after the quake @ Iwate (off Tokyo) : May 10-11, 2014

Three years and two months have passed after the Great East Japan Earthquake. I visited Iwate Prefecture.

The rubble has been removed. The roads, railways and houses have been rebuilt one by one. NGOs, individuals, private companies as well as the local governments are making efforts to restore the regions.

Still, many people live in temporary houses and face difficulties to find jobs. The process to rebuild disaster-preventing towns is slow. The prospect for the tigion's reconstruction and future development is not yet clear.

>> Miyako City

I took off the Tohoku Shinkansen (bullet train) in Morioka, the prefecture's capital, and moved to Miyako City in the Sanriku Coast area.

Miyako locate at the mouth of the Hei River. Tsunami came into central Miyako overpassing the concrete-made sea-river wall. The pictures of the disaster scene are widely spread in the web (and I use one of them in this page).

The sea-river wall itself remained unchanged. (2nd oicture from the top)
The town has been cleaned up. New houses have been built in the same place.

The market reopened. I found local people enjoying shopping of the sea and mountain products there.

There still remain damages. The rail bridge of the Yamada Line, which ran from Morioka through Miyako to Kamaishi, fell down 3 years ago. It is still destroyed.

>>Tsunami damages and memories in Taro

Taro district, about 10 kilometers north from central Miyako, has been repeatedly suffered from tsunami disasters. 1896 people were killed in the 1896 tsunami and 911 persons were killed in 1933.

It was seriously hit again in 2011. Most parts of the town were washed away and 161 people were killed.

The town constructed huge dykes by the 1970s to prevent tsunami disaster after having experienced tragedy in 1986 and 1933.

The dykes were made in X shape and total length was 2433 meter. The dyke complex was called "the super dyke". 

The tsunami waves in 2011 destroyed parts of the dykes and overpassed the other parts. Then, the waves washed away the town completely.

There used to be many houses under the dyke. It is vacant now.

The half-destroyed building of Taro Kanko Hotel remains alone in the washed-out field. The destroyed part of the dyke lied before the hotel. (the top picture)

The tour guide said that she narrowly escaped from the disaster and it was her duty to tell the story to visitors. Her stories hit me so strongly.

>>Railway reopened

The Sanriku Tetsudo Railway reopened last month. The revival meants not only the recovery in infrastructure,  but also a symbol of new hope for local people.

I enjoyed a ride. (3rd picture from the top)














 >> Beauty of the nature

I also visited the places of beautiful landscape. They were Jodogahama Coast (left picture) in Miyako City and Kitayamazaki (4th picture from the top) in Tanohata Village.

 

>> "Amachan" effects

I moved up to Kuji City and visited Kosode Kaigan Coast. It is the northern limit where Japanese female divers (ama) are active (without wet suit) in taking sea urchin and other sea products.

  

The place became popular as the hometown of “Ama-chan”, a TV program broadcast in April-September, 2013. Many TV programs were made to encourage Tohoku after the disaster, but “Amachan” was the most successful one.

Many “Amachen” goods were sold. I saw many tourists. The economic effect seems big. I reaffirmed the impact of “Ama-chan”.