It has been 14 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. In February, each grade held an independent lesson on the events of the earthquake, after which they folded paper cranes at the “3.11 Gathering.” The current 7th grade students were born in 2011, and most of the children at Yume no Mori did not experience the earthquake. Okuma Town, which experienced an unprecedented earthquake and nuclear accident, is recovering, and a commercial facility will open this month.
４校時目の全校道徳では、大熊町出身のデザイナーが当時のことを語りました。震災当時は小学校６年生。春の遠足で大野小学校（現インキュベーションセンター）から坂下ダムまで歩いた思い出もあるそうです。
During fourth period, we held a moral education class. A designer who is from Okuma Town talked about those days. She was a sixth grade student at the time of the disaster. She also remembers walking from Ono Elementary School (now the Incubation Centre) to Sakashita Dam on a spring field trip.
“March 11th was a Friday, and everyone was dismissed from school at the same time. I was waiting for the school bus in the schoolyard when I experienced such a strong tremor that I couldn’t stand. I was scared, but I couldn’t say anything. The kids younger than me were crying, and I knew I had to do something.”
“We just waited in the schoolyard until the school bus arrived. When I saw the roof and ceiling of the gymnasium collapse with my own eyes, I thought I could never go back to school. Aftershocks continued even after we got home, so there was a risk of the school collapsing. And I remember that my whole family spent the night outside in a greenhouse, enduring the cold”.
“I went to school every day for six years. I enjoyed spending time with my friends”, she said, but her elementary school days ended with her being forced to live in evacuation shelters. On the following day, the 12th, she heard the town announcement and went to a nearby community centre, where she was told, “Please evacuate. Do not go home”, and so her life as an evacuee began. “The first evacuation shelter was full to capacity. We slept in the gymnasium of a school in Tamura City, where we went to the second shelter, using the same blankets as our family and neighbors. The only food we had was one loaf of bread that had expired,” she said. She has a harsh situation awaiting her.
She settled down at the seventh evacuation shelter, and her elementary school graduation ceremony was held in April, where she received her certificate and photo album. She started a new life at a junior high school in Aizu, and transferred to a junior high school in Iwaki in the third term of her first year of junior high school. “I want people to know that Okuma is what it is today because of these events,” she said.
After listening to the talk, we looked at photos from the time of the earthquake and after the disaster. Currently, photos from after the earthquake are collected on the Okuma Town website. https://www.town.okuma.fukushima.jp/site/shashinkan/
Thoughts:
・Seeing the photos made me realize that it’s important to prepare for disasters, such as preparing disaster bags.
・I think they were doing a lot more than Okuma does now. There were a lot more people there. I realized it was different from now.
・Listening to the stories and looking at the photos made me realize this.
・I had heard stories about the earthquake at home. I learned that it was very difficult, with things in the house falling over and people unable to stand because of the shaking.
・I saw the photos and learned that the temporary housing is very small. It must be hard to live there.
・It was a valuable experience to hear from someone who actually experienced it. I got a sense of how difficult life in evacuation shelters is.
In the afternoon, a “3.11 Gathering” was held at Okuma Town Hall. Before leaving, the entire school reviewed their moral education. “It was six or seven years before we were able to return home after the evacuation. I wanted to take with me the photos I had on display, my favourite stationery, and things that reminded me of my past. When I was able to return to Okuma, I had no choice but to get rid of them.”
GM Nango introduced a speech by an 8th grade student at Namie Junior High School around the time of the earthquake, and a speech by a 9th grade student who spoke at the prefabricated school building of Okuma Junior High School when it was completed two years after the earthquake.
We walked to the town hall to take part in the “3.11 Gathering.” It was a windy but warm day. The children at Yume no Mori had folded the cranes for the Thousand Cranes Tree. We then laid the flowers on the flower stand.
“It’s sad to lose the things you cherish the most. I think it must be hard for people who have experienced it.”
“We are lucky. We have a father and a mother, and a home to go back to. I feel like we can’t take it for granted.”
“I don’t want to be unable to go home. It’s better if there’s no hardship.”
“This is something I want the next generation to hear.”
“It was a sad day. I learned that many people were evacuated, and that they cooperated with the people around them, and shared food.”
“Okuma is now a peaceful town. It’s a good town.” “I want to get involved with the local people.”
“This is a big earthquake that will remain in history. Now that 14 years have passed, I think it’s time to think about disaster prevention and look back. I want to live every minute of my life to the fullest for those who died in the tsunami and earthquake.”
“We held a minute of silence. When I think about the strong shaking that continued for minutes, I can only imagine how difficult it must have been. I realized how important it is to be prepared every day.”
“I want to live my life cherishing my life.”
“We held a moment of silence while thinking about the earthquake and tsunami. I’m glad I was able to listen to the talk in moral education.”
“A lot of people held a moment of silence in the same place. It conveyed the seriousness of the disaster. I’ll continue to participate. I don’t want it to end as just a difficult experience. I want to pass on this feeling.”
It seemed that the children today, who have never experienced the earthquake, were able to share their thoughts with each other.
