My Feeling about Onagawa’s Devastation --- 3/28 Report #2

April 2, 2011

These are the scenes around Marine Pal.
You can see the extent of the tsunami if you see the places you know in the neighborhood of our house.
This is just a report with photographs for now.
1. The back street of Marine Pal. (Taken from around Okasei and Sato Rice Store.) The left one is toward Mon Mart, and the right side is Kadohama. The ground sank by 110 cm with the earthquake this time and the area has become ocean completely. It is a little difficult to see as I connected three images in a panoramic form.
2. Simiarly, taken from around Okasei and Sato Rice Store towards the Chamber of Commerce direction. 　Up front, Sasaki Iron Works and Suzuya Hotel buildings remain. It might have been that the pressure from the waves did not hit directly since they are behind Marine Pal. (I am not sure as I am not a specialist.)

3. The front of Marine Pal. As it is facing the center of Gulf of Onagawa, it was directly affected by the waves. The corridor that connected the two buildings was damaged. My impression was that the exterior was not as destroyed as I expected, maybe due to tiles. (Inside is a mess.) I could see working people burning wood material on the second floor.

4. A view from Tachibana Sushi near Sasaki Portrait Studio to look over the road that leads to Konori. The road is neatly cleaned up.
5. Suzukiya Store at Kadohama.  When I take a picture of one house like this, you can imagine the terror of the tsunami from the way the house is destroyed. A lot of times, only steel frames remain if it was built with steel frames.

6. Taken from Tachibana Sushi toward Chowanso direction. As buildings were gone, you can see Chowanso from this position. The tsunami came to about Omori Vegetable Store. Houses beyond this point to a higher ground are safe and people are staying at home. On March 28, heavy equipment came in and was clearing the road going up from Omori Vegetable Store.