Prayers offered for disaster victims in northeastern coast

March 11, 2018

TOKYO- In Pacific coastal areas in northeastern Japan, victims of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami were remembered on Sunday, the seventh anniversary of the catastrophe.

In the Ainokama district of Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, Kimio Sugai, 78, and his 76-year-old wife, Katsuko, offered prayers in front of the grave of their son, Yutaka, who died while working as a firefighter to guide the evacuation of residents from the oncoming tsunami.

"I fled for safety as my son told me that tsunami was coming. He ended up passing away before me," the father said.

"I feel he may show up suddenly," he said, adding that the feeling has not changed over the seven years.

In the Miyagi town of Minamisanriku, 43 people, including local government personnel, died in the building that housed the municipal government's disaster response task force when the huge tsunami swamped the structure.

Before the skeletal remains of the building, Akio Sato, a 67-year-old business owner, on Sunday laid flowers that he received in an annual offering from a business partner in Tokyo.

"I feel it's already seven years and only seven years. My company has been reconstructed but I'm still laden with debt," said Sato, who lost his house and company factory to the tsunami.

"I'm mentally tired, but I have to hold out a little longer," he said.

In the Ukedo district of Namie, a tsunami-hit town in Fukushima Prefecture, Sakae Ando, 45, placed flowers on the grave of his mother, Masako, who was left dead in the tsunami at age 65. Jiji Press