Remembering Tohoku

Friday 11 March 2011, people in the region of Tōhoku runs their daily life as usual. None of them got any idea what will happen in the evening that will change their life forever. At about 2.46pm the same day an earthquake with a 9.0 magnitude hits Japan. This is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded that hit Japan. The earthquake triggered a powerful tsunami waves that hits Tōhoku coastal cities. Remembering Tōhoku was my documentary project in Autumn 2014 with intention to show the after effects, post event scenes and redevelopment progress in Tōhoku cities of Kamaishi, Rikuzentakata and Yuriage. My journey starts in Kamaishi, which is about 550km away from Tokyo. Kamaishi was heavily damaged by the tsunami at the height of about 4 meters with approximately 1250 people dead or missing. With steel mining and production, eco tourism and commercial fishing that still survived after the disaster, Kamaishi redevelopment progress is positively good within 4 years after the disaster with lots of new buildings and infrastructure for commercial and living in the city. My next city was Rikuzentakata. The 2011 Tōhoku tsunami wiped out the whole city from the map. With the waves height of 4 storey building, it is reported that almost all buiding that is smaller than 3 storey height have been flooded by the waves. According to the locals, the tsunami hit their city in 3 waves and it hits the city in just about 30 minutes after the great earthquake. Many didn’t have enough time to make it to the higher ground and perished. In 4 years after the disaster, most areas of Rikuzentakata coastal side are still an empty land with sand factories operating day and night for the redevelopment progress of the city. In years to come, Rikuzentakata will be a totally new city. Yuriage, a small district in Natori city was my last stop for this project. The tsunami height in Yuriage is about 8 meters and took about 1000 life’s with it. Yuriage location is beside the Natori river, this caused the tsunami rans faster towards the inland. Once a fishery port and seafood wholesale marketplace, now most of Yuriage coastal areas are empty lands waiting for redevelopment.