Ogawa Elementary School – a visit on-site

We discovered a little Jonet member at the evacuation centre

 in the Big Ban (Cultural Centre in Iinogawa). Because it were

the summer holidays, she participated in making bear toys with us.

In a separate hall, preparations are made for the communal memorial service to be held tomorrow.  We have heard that there is a person who has to attend to the funeral services for six family members.  Among those who lost their lives are many children.

 

 

 

Clothes donated for all the evacuees.

  

We received a large amount of goods, which individual persons and many companies have kindly donated. When we explained this to the recipients in the evacuation centres they were in tears expressing their gratitude.

 

 

Along the bank of Kitakami River towards Ogawa Elementary School

The road is badly damaged, so that only one lane can be used.

 

Recently, signs directing people to a particular funeral service

can been seen more often.

A friend travelling with us said that she is afraid when water takes on this colour. (She narrowly escaped death in the tsunami, but her parents lost their lives)

Only the foundation of this house remained, barely.

The memorial in front of Ogawa Elementary School,

where half of the pupils lost their lives to the tsunami.

 

To the right of the Elementary School, in front of the mountain,

a mountain of debris has piled up.

The diggers are scooping up the debris and with clattering noise sift through it.

Inside the school

Inside the school, a huge gap has opened up in a wall

and is packed with sludge.

The steel door has been horribly bent

Part of a wall that remained. The insulation material has become exposed

 

Ogawa Elementary School had such smart buildings.

But looking at this horrible scene, we are lost for words.

The inner courtyard of the school

In the children’s toilet

 

A classroom on the first floor, the floor bulged.

A classroom on the first floor: the floor has risen and large holes opened up.

A towel doll blackened and stiffened by the muddy waters

 

A rebar – twisted as if it was made of rubber

 

Apart from the diggers, there were police vehicles of the body recovery team.

A necktie caught in the ceiling

 

The school’s song on the ground-floor wall

 

Various equipment and mementos – all terribly ragged

One sleeve was torn off

 

The above six photos show the area around Ogawa Elementary School and the little that remains of the many houses once standing here.

A temporary housing unit for evacuees on the outskirts of Ishinomaki City

This building was once part of a shrine. It was swept away and turned over. 

In the Minato district of Ishinomaki City

We came across this sign announcing the fireworks 

and boating season festival of Ishinomaki City

The round-shaped white building in the back is the Manga Museum

 in the Kitakamigawa Nakaze area of Ishinomaki City

On the shopping street in the Tachimachi district of Ishinomaki City:

All the smashed windows have been replaced with vinyl sheets to provide temporary protection. We found many shops that had opened for business after concluding a major clean-up operation.

All the shop owners exerted themselves to prepare their shops for business.

An old teashop in the Tachimachi district, where my mother

used to get her tea.