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Miki endo being washed away7/1/2023 ![]() ![]() SHUN MAKINO: (Through Translator) The hardest thing for me is to see my wife. His father, farmer and former mayor, Shun Makino says the family held a funeral for his son just last month even though it brought him little solace. Sato declined to be interviewed.įorty-six-year-old employee Noritaka Makino(ph) was also washed away in his body was never found. But town Mayor Jin Sato survived, clinging to the radio antenna on top of the building. She and dozens of other employees of the town's emergency response center were swept away by the massive waves. KUHN: Town employee, 24-year-old Miki Endo, stayed at her post, broadcasting this tsunami warning that saved many lives, but cost her own. But some Minamisanriku residents are angry they feel that they were the victims of human error. Many survivors except that the quake and tsunami were unstoppable forces of nature. KUHN: At an auditorium in Minamisanriku, schoolchildren sang upbeat songs about the joys of being alive: Happiness is a relaxing bath in a tub provided by the self-defense forces, they sing. ![]() YOSHIHIKO NODA: (Foreign language spoken) In order to ensure that the souls of the departed are duly respected and their wishes passed down to posterity, Noda said, I pledge that the government will work to accomplish reconstruction in the disaster-affected regions without delay. Noda promised more assistance to the tsunami-ravaged coastal communities. KUHN: At the National Theatre in Tokyo, Emperor Akihiko and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda bowed deeply and spoke before huge tablets representing the spirits of the deceased. One reason is that I work in Sendai and I'm only here on the weekends, so I couldn't take care of them and I regret this greatly. I lost some close friends and I thought about why I couldn't save them. He says that several of his followers have committed suicide since the quake.įUMIO TSUJI: (Through Translator) One hanged himself, another drowned himself in the ocean, and another jumped off a building. ![]() ![]() More than 500 bodies remain unidentified.Īfter the Henmi service, Zen monk Fumio Tsuji confides that he's worried about the mental and spiritual health of the town's residents. Police continue to search for some of the more than 3,000 people missing up and down the coast. This tsunami largely obliterated the town center of Minamisanriku. But in order to achieve some sort of closure and move on, I decided to hold the ceremony. KUHN: This doesn't mean we're giving up searching for her, he says. KUHN: Outside the room, Henmi's son, Yoshimi, says the police and military did their best but so far have not found his mother's body. The monk's temple was washed away too, so the service is being held in a prefabricated room next to a hillside graveyard. (SOUNDBITE OF A BELL AND A CHANTING BUDDHIST MONK)ĪNTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: A Buddhist monk reads Sutras and prays for the soul of Keiko Henmi, 74, who was washed away by the tsunami. But one year on, rebuilding has not even begun on much of the country's devastated northeast coast.Īnd as NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports, the fishing town of Minamisanriku is still too early for most of the wounds to heal. local time, trains stopped, sirens blared, and people across Japan bowed their heads in silence. Japan is remembering the massive earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people and triggered a nuclear crisis a year ago today. ![]()
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