Okawa Elementary School

38.5463°N 141.4285°E / 38.5463; 141.4285

The ruins of the school in 2017.

Okawa Elementary School (Japanese: 大川小学校, Hepburn: Ōkawa Shōgakkō) was an educational institution in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The school was destroyed in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. 74 of its 108 students, who had been sheltering in the school on the instructions of their teachers rather than evacuating to higher ground, were killed as it ran up the nearby Kitakami River. Only four of the students present when the tsunami struck the school survived. Ten of the school's eleven teachers also died. It was found that the school was unprepared for such an event, and that the scale of the tsunami had not been realized until it was too late. In 2014, the families of 23 of the children who died sued Ishinomaki City and Miyagi Prefecture for compensation.[1] In October 2016, they were awarded compensation of ¥1.4 billion (US$12.8 million).[2] The school was formally closed in 2018.[3]

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

After the earthquake struck, the school sustained substantial damage, with most of its windows having shattered and the entire building at risk of collapse from aftershocks. Teachers gathered the students in the schoolyard and discussed where to evacuate. A hill behind the school was considered a viable option for evacuation, however, due to concerns of possible landslides and falling trees and rocks, it was decided that this was not the best option.[4] Some students attempted to run up the hill, but were stopped by a teacher who ordered them to return to the schoolyard. During discussions of deciding where to evacuate, a school bus that 45 people can ride on was waiting. However, according to the co-worker of the deceased driver of the bus, the driver refused to depart as the bus “cannot depart without orders from the school”.[5] 20 students’ parents arrived to the school to pick up their children and left after writing their names on the paper. Some parents reported that the tsunami is arriving soon. The teachers convinced some of the parents to stay with their child as being with them were “safer”. One of the child’s mother who were convinced sent her husband a mail at 3:29 PM “I am in the school with my child” and later died in the tsunami. Some of the parents saw the children stopped from running to the hill behind the school begging their teachers to let them evacuate and that they’ll die if they stay here.[4] The group of teachers and students, along with civilians who evacuated to the school began to evacuate to the higher ground in National Route 398 over 40 minutes after the earthquake occurred.

After the group reached the prefectural route, a tsunami wave began engulfing the crowd from the front. A teacher and several students, who were at the rear of the line, turned back and started running toward the hill behind the school. Some students and a teacher who turned back survived,Yomiuri Shimbun. 「石巻・大川翔の悲劇、被災時の詳しく明らかに」 『読売新聞』 [The tragedy of Sho Okawa in Ishinomaki, detailed clarification of the disaster]. but some students couldn't move, paralyzed by the sight of the large tsunami. The ground the group was heading toward was a few meters lower than the tsunami and was also engulfed by it. The issued tsunami warning's height was changed to 10 meters from 6 meters at 15:14, while the ground's elevation was around 6 to 7 meters.

Aftermath of the tsunami

The school as the result of the tsunami, merged with Futamata Elementary School due to decreased number of students.[6]

References
  1. "The school beneath the wave: the unimaginable tragedy of Japan's tsunami". the Guardian. 2017-08-24. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  2. 大川小津波訴訟、市と県に14億円賠償命令 仙台地裁 [Okawa Small Tsunami Lawsuit Orders City and Prefecture to Compensate 1.4 Billion Yen Sendai District Court]. sankei.com (in Japanese). SANKEI DIGITAL INC. 2016-10-26. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  3. "Tsunami-hit Okawa Elementary holds ceremony ahead of closure in March". The Japan Times. 24 February 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  4. 「山さ逃げっぺ」大ちゃんの正しさを信じた遺族の6年…大川小津波訴訟、控訴審始まる [6 years of the bereaved family who believed in the rightness of "Yamasaseppe" Dai-chan... The appeal trial for the Okawa Kotsunami lawsuit begins]. bengo4.com (in Japanese). 2 April 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  5. ＜止まった刻 検証・大川小事故＞第３部 迷い（１）バス運転手 待機むなしく [<Stopped Time Verification/Okawa Minor Accident> Part 3 Lost (1) Bus driver waiting in vain]. kahoku.news (in Japanese). 2018-02-09. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  6. "沿革史 石巻市立二俣小学校" (in Japanese). Retrieved 6 June 2023.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ishinomaki Municipal Okawa Elementary School.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.