14 Years After the Ōkawa Elementary Tragedy: Unforgettable Memories of the Bereaved Families

“I couldn’t wear my junior high school uniform.”

“My daughter was in the sixth grade. She was looking forward to graduating from Ōkawa Elementary School and then entering middle school. It was that time in March. March 11, that day, was the day her middle school uniform was finished. There was a uniform shop right around that tall telephone pole over there. That day, she was supposed to bring home her middle school sailor uniform and show it to the family. Unfortunately, my daughter never got to wear her middle school uniform.”

Toshirō Satō (61), who serves as a storyteller, began recounting his personal experience to the gathered visitors using a microphone. His daughter had been caught in the disaster.

It was a Saturday, just before the 14th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on March 11, 2011. The location was in front of the former main gate of Ishinomaki Municipal Ōkawa Elementary School (closed on March 31, 2018, and now a preserved disaster site).

Though 3.7 km from the coastline, Ōkawa Elementary School was struck by a tsunami that traveled up the river. Of the 108 students at the school, excluding those who were absent or had already gone home, 78 attempted to evacuate but were swept away by the tsunami. Of those, 74 lost their lives (70 confirmed dead, 4 missing), and 10 out of 11 teachers who were leading the evacuation also perished.

Toshirō, who lost his second daughter, Mizuho (then 12), had been a middle school teacher in Onagawa Town at the time of the disaster. Now, he serves as the representative of the voluntary organization “The Association to Reflect on the Meaning of Small Lives,” which was established to examine and preserve the legacy of what happened at Ōkawa Elementary School.