RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan (Reuters) – Japanese police thoroughly searched the River and his Bank in search of corpses of the disappeared a year after the huge earthquake and tsunami that swept large areas of the fishing population of Rikuzentakata.
The city, which had fame by a beautiful beach and its plagued coast of pine forests at the foot of the mountains, now is synonymous with destruction and death generalizada por triple disaster that ravaged the area.
What was the Centre of the city is abandoned to great extent, full of mountains of rubble and a city in ruins. A solitary pine tree facing the sea in calm is all that remained of the forest.
Wall of water 16 meters high engulfed the city centre and took the life of 1.555 of 24.240 residents. A total of 288 are still on the list of missing persons in the population, 400 km North-East of Tokyo.
For months, Police divers and coastguards have tracked the sea and paddy field with the hope of finding bodies. Lately, have responded to requests for search in specific areas from families seeking to close a stage.
“If we work hard, the spirits of the dead hear our call.” “We keep your eyes wide open and a close look at,” said Kaname Endo, an agent of a police station located next to the sea which lost five of its 12 employees.
On Friday, some 20 agents uniformed with water and orange life jackets, boots with shovels and buckets, peinaban streams full of mud near the port – one of the few areas that have not yet been inspected. A bulldozer removed slabs of concrete and mud of a particularly deep Creek. The morning search yields no results and agents are reminded that they must be careful in records.
Masahiko Saito, another agent, said search efforts allowed to retrieve a corpse in the Kesen River in February and parts of corpses in the fishing port. Most of the finds are only parts of corpses or bones.
“May appear corpses at sea or at a point that has been inspected before, so we must seek many times,” said Endo.
“Is not a matter that these bodies are dirty or smell.” “We believe that they are something that needs to be treated with great care so that they can be returned to their families”.
Although the majority of debris covering the city centre after the tsunami have been designated places, the main commercial area continues virtually deserted, with only traffic lights and electricity poles.
The sea, which used to be covered by buildings and houses, now visible from hundreds of meters away in a flattened landscape. The only sound is the construction machinery and piar of birds.
Most of the activity now takes place in areas of the periphery that remained intact. Many residents have been relocated in temporary shelter on higher ground and supermarkets in makeshift buildings have been installed. City Hall workers carry out their activity in temporary offices far from the sea.
RICKETY Town Hall
. In the rickety Town Hall, continue scattered books and smashed furniture, while on the walls there are areas marked with red “X” to indicate the areas where corpses have been sought. A carpet of mud and cables that hang from the ceiling shows the strength of the waves that struck the building, carrying ahead almost 70 officials.
El Mayor Futoshi Toba, who lost his wife in the tsunami, said that the city has yet to begin the reconstruction phase.
“We have been working hard to meet our immediate needs so far.” “But we have prepared the plan of reconstruction of the city,” he told Reuters from the improvised City Council.
“Since the start of the new fiscal year in April, I think that we can start to work on the reconstruction of the city”.
But the stability, said, involved increasing public demands.
“After March 11, people were happy to be able to drink a little water.” A day later, they drink more water. “Then could eat a bowl of rice soup or something”.
“But now, we have to stop.” “Takes time to build social housing and that we have open space in the mountains and build roads, water pipes and bring electricity”.
“We must act quickly and do things that people can see with their own eyes…” “We have to help those who are truly in danger and those that can find a way for themselves must learn to be independent”.
Recover the bodies of lost relatives is an essential step to take over his death, said Asami Maekawa, Professor of Psychology at Tokyo Women’s Christian University.
“In the process of mourning and acceptance of death, it is necessary to confront the reality of death, an example is very clear to see the corpse” said.
“If people try to keep the memories of their loved ones in the mind without the process of face reality, it is not a complete process, leaves his mind vulnerable”.
But face death and rebuild the destroyed life means that many thousands of people dealing with depression and other health problems. It is believed that about 40 percent of the residents in Rikuzentakata suffer sleep disorders. Almost 6 per cent showed signs of serious psychological problems, according to a study conducted by Kiyomi Sakata, Professor at the Medical University of Iwate.
While the search for bodies continues.
“Some people say we should stop because we have a year.” “But there are corpses which have not found yet,” said policeman Endo. “We will continue until that we know with certainty that there will be no more”.
/Por Yoko Kubota /
