Ishinomaki (Japan), 11 mar (EFE).-millions of people commemorated today in the northeast of Japan to the victims of the tsunami, a year ago, took over 19,000 lives in the area and left her facing a daunting reconstruction challenge.
Ports, temples and auditoriums today hosted numerous events memorials and joined in a silent prayer to the 14.46 local time (05.46 GMT), the same in which the area was rocked last year by the earthquake, which triggered a powerful body of water which swept the coasts of the provinces of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.
Ishinomaki, the city with more dead and missing due to the tsunami (3.735), was the scene of the greatest of all acts of Miyagi in the Auditorium Big Bang, where some 2,500 focused people to pay tribute to the deceased.
The event kicked off with the emotional performance by a choir of the city opposite the main stage, decorated with 9,000 carnations, before the eyes of many families that lost one of its members on March 11.
The Mayor, Hiroshi Kameyama, delivered a speech in which he expressed his sorrow for the deceased, expressed appreciation for the support received from different parts of Japan and of the world and urged continuing the fight to rebuild the town.
“From now on, with dreams and hope, we will build a new Ishinomaki, we will return to life and do we grow, but for that we need everyone’s effort”, said Kameyama to speak of a city that, despite everything, “will never forget this profound pain”.
In turn, the Governor of Miyagi, Yoshihiro Murai, expressed appreciation for the work done by the volunteers and the security forces in the province, the hardest hit with 9.544 dead and missing 1.688.
“In the past year, the panorama of the city has changed for the better, but there are still many painful memories,” remembered for its part Harumasa Tanokura, spokesman for the families that lost a member when the disaster struck Ishinomaki.
A parade of relatives of the victims to make floral offerings ended the multitudinous Act, among numerous samples contained excitement.
Kilometers beyond, in the building of the elementary school of Okawa gathered former students and family members to pray for 84 students and teachers who were swept away by the waters of the tsunami a year ago.
In all the northeastern Strip occurred today memorials on the anniversary of the disaster, although Ishinomaki was one of the busiest with an influx of visitors which served to bring encouragement to the municipality, where there are still to withdraw many debris of more than 22,400 buildings which swept water.
“He cost me both assume what happened until recently I have not been able to mourn”, told Efe Sachiko Tachibana, merchant of 67 years of the town, with the help of his son, was one of the first to reopen his business after the disaster.
But also confess to be somewhat more happy now, after a year in which has returned to find time to knit scarves that sells in his store with items lana saved before the tsunami flooded his store.
More to the North, in the province of Iwate, hundreds of people visited the coastal town of Rikuzentakata, also ravaged by water and where the only 70,000 pine trees that managed to stay standing became symbol of resistance and reconstruction of the Northeast.
Surrounding the tree and under a light snowfall is deposited today numerous offerings in ceremonies that were also repeated sea calm, very different from that swallowed hundreds of kilometres of coastline a year ago.
Twelve months after the tragedy, police and the coast guard carried even on a regular basis operations to search for the remains of 3,167 persons who disappeared in the waters of the tsunami.
The disaster destroyed or seriously damaged more than 383,000 homes and buildings, the vast majority in the three Northeastern provinces, but the reconstruction is carried out very slowly and there are still some 345,000 displaced persons in temporary houses.
The region also suffers still frequent replicas of the great earthquake of March 11: from a year ago more than 7,200 tremors, of which half thousand have exceeded the 5 degrees Richter. have been
Andrés Sánchez Braun
Tokyo, 11 mar (EFE).-A year after the earthquake that it triggered the worst crisis in Japan since World War II, the Government pledged today to accelerate the reconstruction of the still devastated areas and to make the archipelago a safer place for natural disasters.
Commemorated the anniversary of the catastrophe in Tokyo with a memorial at the National Theater attended by the dome of the Japanese Executive and the Emperor, Akihito, of 78 years and recovery process after being subjected in February to a cardiac operation.
On stage, a high altar with the flag of Japan, white chrysanthemums and a monument of wood recalled the 15.854 dead and 3.155 disappeared by the earthquake and the tsunami of a year ago, they triggered the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl.
After a minute of silence to the 14.46 (05.46 GMT) local time, the time in which the earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale shook Japan, the Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, recalled to the deceased and those who follow (almost 335,000 people) displaced by the tragedy.
Rigorous mourning dress as the rest of the attendees, Noda pledged to “rebuild as soon as possible” the affected area and also to “recover Fukushima”, where even continued the battle to keep the nuclear power stabilized.
To some 1,200 guests between Ministers, parliamentarians, diplomats, representatives of the affected areas, journalists and relatives of the victims, the Prime Minister urged to pass on the lessons of the disaster to future generations.
“We must strengthen measures for prevention, based on this experience, as soon as possible,” insisted Noda, who came to power in September when his predecessor, Naoto Kan, resign by criticism of his management of the crisis.
Also called the unity of the people and thanked the “warm assistance” from foreign countries during the crisis, something that also highlighted the Emperor, Akihito.
The elderly head of the Chrysanthemum throne, with fragile and accompanied by his wife, Empress Michiko, figure made an emotional speech in which thanked “all those who have worked for those affected and to solve the nuclear problem”.
Calm and perseverance of those affected, which stunned the world in the aftermath of the tragedy, her today recalled the Emperor, who stressed that, despite the adversities, the survivors “are getting along” and supporting each other.
According to the Agency of the Imperial House Japan, was the emperor who wanted to be present at the ceremony today despite his delicate health, that by the time keeps you away from other official events while his son, Prince Naruhito, relieves him in this work.
As Noda, the head of State also emphasized the importance of transmitting the experience of the tragedy to succeeding generations and take preventive measures to make a safer territory of Japan.
Located in a highly seismic area, Japan is one of the most prepared countries of the planet before earthquakes, although the magnitude of which took place a year ago and, above all, the powerful tsunami that he followed exceeded all expectations.
After the disaster the country has extreme precautions and prepares a national plan before a possible major earthquake, which refers to the strengthening of infrastructure and communications, in addition to the increase in the number of seismographs in the archipelago.
Other measures include the designation of emergency roads to be used by special disaster vehicles, as well as protocols to expedite the opening of channels of communication in the case of the existing lock.
Prevention measures are joining efforts for reconstruction, something for which the Government has allocated so far four extraordinary budgets by 20.6 trillion yen (about 190,000 million euros) this fiscal year, ending in March.
The psychological recovery of those affected will take much more time, as acknowledged Eriko Okuda, one of the survivors of the Northeast during the Tokyo memorial: “our pain does not disappear never.” “Precisely for that reason, after the tears we must be stronger,” concluded.
Maribel Izcue
Several bouquets of flowers placed on the beach on the first anniversary of the earthquake of 9 degrees Richter and the devastating tsunami that devastated the northeast of Japan, today in Sendai. EFE
Japan Akihito (2i) and Michiko, emperors involved a commemorative event on the first anniversary of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit the northeastern coast of the country, held today in Tokyo (Japan). EFE
