Only some survive on top of the town disaster management center
Pictures: Shinichi Sato/APhttp://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/9136912/photos-reveal-tsunami-desperation/
"Chilling new photographs show people desperately clinging to a mast on a roof as the Japanese tsunami destroys the building beneath them.
In the combination of three photos, taken by Shinichi Sato amidst the March 11 disaster, survivors cling to an antenna tower and handrails on the roof of the Minamisanriku Government Disaster Readiness Center in Minamisanriku, north-eastern Japan.
About 30 people fled to the roof of the three-storey building and climbed higher as the tsunami rushed in. Only nine people survived and about 20 were swept to their deaths."
A young female official who kept delivering the evacuation message to townspeople until the last moment has not been found. Tanioka says the story of her bravery and dedication is now nationally known.
Lensman braved tsunami
Wednesday, April 6, 2011 http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110406f3.html"MINAMISANRIKU, Miyagi Pref. (Kyodo) When the municipal disaster prevention building in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, was engulfed by the tsunami on March 11, its officials clinging to the top of the structure, a local photographer captured the drama in a series of pictures.
The photos, made available by Shinichi Sato, show the three-story building completely submerged by the wall of water except for its antenna and rooftop fence, to which Mayor Jin Sato and nine other survivors from the office clung.
(Shinichi) Sato, 45, who ran a photo studio in his home until the tsunami hit, captured the scene from an elementary school overlooking the town.
'A tsunami will come,' he thought soon after the powerful earthquake struck. He first instructed his family to evacuate, then took his camera and drove to a hilly area where he could see the town below.
As Sato continued pressing the camera shutter, he was oddly calm and didn't feel terrified, he said. Sato is now photographing the recovery effort."
From a Rapid Damage Assessment and Need Survey
The report has high-resolution images from a number of the towns including and south of Minami-Sanriku. It is about 7 Mb and was provided to me by Tom Banse of Public Radio Olympia Bureau. Support public radio!
Of all of the photos of the cities that were destroyed by the tsunami, these photos of the emergency management officials on top of the emergency management building in Minamisanriku are by far the most chilling. I can’t imagine what they were going through. The female official that was in charge of announcing the tsunamis kept broadcasting her message until she had to go to the roof. I recently read that her body was found several miles away. She is a true hero!! Thank you for posting these. My bucket list now includes a hoped for trip to this coastal area of Japan, and a visit to Minamisanriku.
ReplyDeleteMiki Endo is the 25 year old woman you refer to.
ReplyDeleteI agree, a truly brave woman, she never did evacuate, she stayed at her desk with another colleague announcing until it was too late. She and her colleague are credited with saving hundreds of lives that day.
There are several media stories of her bravery in that her colleague can be heard over the loud speaker as she was announcing telling her to leave her desk and that they must both get to the roof, she replies that she will stay until the last possible moment.
People who were on the roof as the wave inundated the town saw her and the colleague being washed away from the middle floor of the building as the wave hit.
The person at the highest point of the mast was the town mayor, a completely typical coward as far as I'm concerned, leaving his staff on the roof whilst he crawls to a higher safety level.
Of 40 people on the roof, 11 survived.