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Tsunami-hit town demolishes old office despite preservation calls

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I found it. Her name was Miki Endo, announcer for the disaster prevention office of Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture. She stayed at her post telling people over a loudspeaker about the tsunami until the end. It's thought she saved 10,000 lives.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Not all tragic events are the same.

And, thus, not all memorials are the same.

I have been to Otsuchi many many times. Most before the 3.11.11, but a few times since.

Comparing it to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome, as an example, is understandable, but the situations are very different.

Otsuchi, in the future, will be very different from Hiroshima. Hiroshima has been rebuilt, because the threat that came was from above and as the result of war.

Otsuchi, on the other hand, is threatened with the future prospect of another tsunami, as are other coastal communities in Tohoku. Which means it cannot and will not be re-built as it was before 3.11.11.

It will NEVER be the same. NEVER. And, in some ways, THAT will be the lasting memorial.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The building itself is not the only possible monument. Without maintenance, old concrete buildings fall down. The steel rusts and expands to cause cracking. It's a problem for Gunkanjima, among others.

https://www.post-gazette.com/uncategorized/2014/09/24/Historic-buildings-on-Japan-s-Hashima-island-in-danger-of-collapsing/stories/201409240186

Like the town that wanted to keep the big ship that had been carried far inshore, you are better off with something that is practical.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This is so wrong on every level. Those who died deserve a monument in their memory.

This building is a monument both to those who died and those who survived.

Show some humanity here.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Things rarely change in Japan, so leaving reminders do little for the people of Japan.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

How about a project for this thread. Find the name of the office girl who issued the tsunami warnings, and the video of her making the warnings. I had seen it on Youtube before but it's hard to find or maybe it was another town.

Doesn't she deserve to be remembered? Let's try

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I remember the tragic story of the young city office girl in this building who issued tsunami warnings to others, until she died. RIP to all.

Maybe that's what I'm thinking of. Thank you.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

it would be great if Japan would stop deleting its history all the time.

Is that the mayor who stayed and broadcast the tsunami warnings at peril to her own safety, who eventually died, so that her broadcast saved her residents?

Shame

You can go and forget your heroes Japan, but I will not

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

I thought there was actually a LAW that if someone died in a building (from un-natural causes), it had to be brought down...sounds ridiculous, but someone told me that once...any truth to that?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

That's good.

The building looked like an open grave.

It brings up so much sorrow and retraumatizes .

1 ( +2 / -1 )

My town had an old disused state hospital that some people wanted to remain to serve as "a reminder of how poorly we treated the mentally ill". What they didn't suggest was how to pay for the maintenance of keeping an old building standing. Eventually they lost out, and the state sold the property to a developer that tore down the hospital and built condominiums. Now the property serves a purpose for living members of the community, and has contributed to the local economy.

In Japan where space it at a bit more of a premium, it makes no sense to leave some old relic like this standing. Use the space instead to show that life goes on and survivors persevere.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Disappointing news. Should have been made a UNESCO world heritage site, similar to Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome. I remember the tragic story of the young city office girl in this building who issued tsunami warnings to others, until she died. RIP to all.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

Spitfire - Should have kept it as a reminder.

I'm quite sure people don't need reminding. In fact, I'm quite sure that most are having difficulties trying to forget about it.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

On the fence with this one. It's definitely good to preserve history, as a reminder for future generations. I also imagine that it's hard to have that constantly around if you lived through it. Not to mention it probably could bring, down the line, tourism... and there's nothing I despise more than disaster porn.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I believe that Citizens of Japan can make Japan great again and forever

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

that is a tough decision. No one wants to look at it every day but at same time no one wants to (or should) forget what happened there.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Hoping that whatever gets built in its place will be stronger, gazebo-open on the lower stories, built up to at least two or three stories higher, with a roof-top survival platform, emergency store and Heli-pad.

Better yet, hoping that NOTHING gets built there, as people from hundreds of years ago left markers all over the place, as warnings that a tsunami reached that point before.

People forget, and it will happen again!

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Useful ladder! Did the people on the roof actually survive?

Hoping that whatever gets built in its place will be stronger, gazebo-open on the lower stories, built up to at least two or three stories higher, with a roof-top survival platform, emergency store and Heli-pad.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Should have kept it as a reminder.

Japan tends to sweep anything unpleasant under the carpet......meaning the lessons that should be learned never are!

0 ( +4 / -4 )

It's good to have memorials but they should not be dangerous or expensive to maintain.

Without maintenance, a concrete shell will eventually fall down.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

That photo shows how much devastation is still present after eight years.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Understand the sentiment, yet leaving it also leaves a constant memory, which might actually be a good thing, as a reminder to following generations to NOT build anything around the area!

People forget their past far too soon, and start thinking it wont happen to them, and then it does!

5 ( +7 / -2 )

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