Minamisanriku

Minamisanriku 南三陸町
Town
Minamisanriku Town Hall, May 2013 Minamisanriku Town Hall, May 2013
Flag of Minamisanriku Flag Official seal of Minamisanriku Seal
Location of Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture Location of Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture
Minamisanriku
Coordinates:
Country	Japan
Region	Tōhoku
Prefecture	Miyagi
District	Motoyoshi
Area
• Total	163.40 km2 (63.09 sq mi)
Population (September 2015)
• Total	3,544
• Density	82.9/km2 (215/sq mi)
Time zone	Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
- Tree	Persera thunbergii
- Flower	Azalea
- Bird	Golden eagle
Address	77 Shioiri, Shizugawa, Minamisanriku-cho, Motoyoshi-gun Miyagi-ken 986-0792
Website	Official website

File:Around Shizugawa Public Hospital in Minamisanriku after tsunami 2.jpg

Around Shizugawa Public Hospital in Minamisanriku after the 2011 tsunami

Minamisanriku (南三陸町, Minamisanriku-chō) is a town in the Motoyoshi District of Miyagi Prefecture, in the Tohoku region of northern Japan. As of September 2015, it had an estimated population of 13,544 and a population density of 82.9 persons per km². The total area was 163.40 square kilometres (63.09 sq mi). It is a resort town on a coastline of wooded islands and mountainous inlets; large sections of which suffered from damage due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Geography

Minamisanriku is in the far northeastern corner of Miyagi Prefecture. Its coastline is part of the Sanriku Fukkō National Park, which stretches north all the way to Aomori Prefecture. The town is bordered to the north, west, and south by the Kitakami Mountains. About 70% of the area of the town is forested.

Neighboring municipalities

• Miyagi Prefecture
  • Kesennuma
  • Tome
  • Ishinomaki

History

The area of present-day Minamisanriku was part of ancient Mutsu Province and came under the control of the Date clan of Sendai Domain during the Edo period, under the Tokugawa shogunate. The area has suffered from the effects of tsunami since ancient times, including the 869 Sanriku earthquake, and more recently during the 1896 Sanriku earthquake and the 1933 Sanriku earthquake.

The villages of Shizukugawa and Utatsu were established on June 1, 1889 with the establishment of the municipalities system. Shizukugawa was elevated to town status on October 31, 1895 and Utatsu on April 1, 1959.

The Great Chilean earthquake of 1960 triggered a tsunami that crossed the Pacific Ocean and struck the town of Shizugawa with a height of up to 2.8 metres (9.2 ft), causing extensive damage. As a result, two-storey-high harbor walls were built by 1963, and residents held tsunami drills each year on the anniversary. To mark the 30th anniversary of the disaster in 1990, a bilingual Spanish-Japanese plaque was installed, with a message from President Patricio Aylwin of Chile, accompanied by a replica moai statue.

The harbor walls proved ineffective in the 2011 tsunami, which washed over four-storey buildings.

The town was formed through a merger on October 1, 2005, when the towns of Shizugawa and Utatsu, both from Motoyoshi District, merged to form the new town of Minamisanriku.

The 2010 Chile earthquake caused a 1.3-metre (4.3 ft) tsunami in Minamisanriku.

2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster

Immediate aftermath accounts suggested 95 percent of the town was destroyed by the 2011 Japanese tsunami that followed the 2011 Tohuku earthquake. Only the tallest buildings remained, and roughly half the population was unaccounted for during the days following the disaster; only 9,700 people were confirmed alive and evacuated in the first week. In late June 2011, a total of 1206 were counted as dead or missing, according to the Kahoku Shinpou.

The town had two evacuation centres where residents could go in the event of a tsunami, one on the southern headland overlooking the town, the other back from the centre of the town. Although both were 20 metres above sea level, the tsunami inundated them and washed people away. At least 31 of the town's 80 designated evacuation sites were inundated by the tsunami.

According to an English teacher at the high school on a hill above the tsunami, "The entire town was simply swept away. It just no longer exists. There were around 7,000 of us on the hill that day. Perhaps a few thousand at the school on the hill opposite. But there are 17,000 in the town. All the others have gone." Since the schools were all on high ground, many children were orphaned. Survivors wrote "SOS" in white lettering, in the playing field of Shizugawa High School.

When the earthquake struck, the mayor, Jin Sato (佐藤仁), was talking at the town assembly about the (much smaller) tsunami caused by the March 9 foreshock of the March 11 earthquake. The three-story building of the town's Crisis Management Department (防災対策庁舎, Bōsai Taisaku Chōsha) which Sato escaped to was submerged by the tsunami. Out of the 130 people who worked at the town hall, Sato was one of only 30 who reached the roof and one of only 10 who survived. He endured the torrent under the tsunami for about 3 minutes. He returned to government affairs, founding the headquarters for disaster control at the Bayside Arena in Miyagi on March 13, 2011.

Shizugawa Hospital was one of the few major buildings that survived the tsunami. It was partly inundated, and 74 out of 109 patients died. Close to 200 people were rescued from the roof.

Miki Endo (遠藤未希), a 25-year-old employed by the town's Crisis Management Department to voice disaster advisories and warnings, was hailed in the Japanese news media as a heroine for sacrificing her life by continuing to broadcast warnings and alerts over the community loudspeaker system, in the Crisis Management Department's building, as the tsunami overwhelmed it. She was credited with saving many lives. The three-story headquarters of the department remained standing but was completely gutted, with only a red-colored steel skeleton remaining. In the aftermath of the disaster, Endo was missing and was later confirmed to have died. Photos show the roof of the building completely submerged at the height of the inundation, with some people clinging to the rooftop antenna.

International response

The town is the site of the first field hospital established by an outside nation offering assistance following the disaster. An initial team of five doctors from Israel set up a surgery in preparation for a larger team once needs were assessed. A 53-member delegation of medical personnel from the Home Front Command and the IDF’s Medical Corps opened a field hospital near Minamisanriku on March 29. The clinic included surgical, pediatrics and maternity wards, and an intensive care unit, pharmacy and laboratory along with 62 tons of medical supplies. The clinic was active in treating patients immediately upon opening.

On 23 April 2011, the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, visited Minamisanriku.

Economy

Minamisanriku relies heavily on tourism and commercial fishing as mainstays of the local economy.

Education

Minamisanriku has five elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school.

Transportation

Railway

• East Japan Railway Company (JR East) – Kesennuma Line (Suspended following March 11, 2011 destruction)
  • Rikuzen-Togura - Shizugawa -Shizuhama - Utatsu - Rikuzen-Minato - Kurauchi

Highway

• National Route 45
• National Route 398

Sister/friendship cities

• Besano, Lombardy, Italy, since November 7, 1999
• Shōnai, Yamagata, Japan, since October 13, 1999

External links

• (Japanese)

Videos

• video showing aerial view, before and after:
• video of tsunami, shot from Shizugawa High School (志津川高校):
  • another video from a similar vantage point as above, showing a wider-angle view of some parts:
• video of tsunami, shot from Shizugawa Junior High School (志津川中学校):
• video shot from a train (facing east) in 2009, stopping at Shizugawa Station and then proceeding to Rikuzen-Togura Station on the Kesennuma Line. Satellite photos (e.g., in Google Maps) and aftermath videos show that virtually every building visible (except the very largest white buildings in the background) in the first three minutes, and in the final minute, were washed away in the 2011 tsunami, as well as the train track and infrastructure and both stations; buildings and track in the middle part were undamaged.
  • the same train trip in the opposite direction, in 2010:
• tsunami aftermath videos (driving around in the town): #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11
• video shot inside Shizugawa Hospital, showing tsunami damage reaching as high as the fourth floor:
• News Video of Tsunami Destroying Minamisanriku The Telegraph, UK news outlet
• Video of Tsunami Aftermath in Minamisanriku "Some Kind of Armageddon", Channel 4 News, UK