Survivor Recounts Terrifying Moment He Held Onto A Tree Branch During Tsunami In Japan
Kenichi Kurosawa held onto a tree on March 11, 2011 when a 9.1 magnitude earthquake - the worst to ever hit Japan - struck 370 kilometres northeast of Tokyo. It triggered a huge tsunami that crashed into Ishinomaki, the coastal city Kurosawa had grown up in and resided in.
Kenichi Kurosawa held onto a tree on March 11, 2011 when a 9.1 magnitude earthquake - the worst to ever hit Japan - struck 370 kilometres northeast of Tokyo. It triggered a huge tsunami that crashed into Ishinomaki, the coastal city Kurosawa had grown up in and resided in.
There were more than 20,000 deaths as well as missing people in the earthquake and eventual tsunami.
Making matters more devastating than they already were, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant also got destroyed.
Also read: Mass Evacuations In New Zealand After Powerful Quakes Spark Tsunami Alert
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The tsunami waves crested a 10-meter (33 feet) sea wall intended to protect the nuclear plant and as the water swept in, cooling mechanisms failed, melting fuel in three reactors and spewing deadly radioactive particles into the surrounding area, which have since dispersed and decayed to less-dangerous levels.
To mark the disaster's tenth anniversary, ceremonies were low key due to the coronavirus pandemic. In Tokyo, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will attend a memorial, pausing for a moment of silence at 2:46 pm, the exact time the earthquake struck 10 years ago.
Ishinomaki, the second largest city in Miyagi prefecture, was one of the worst-hit communities by the tsunami.
According to the International Tsunami Information Center, waves covered almost 5 square kilometers (500 hectares) of land and inundated nearly 15% of the city.
The tsunami destroyed more than 50,000 homes and buildings in Ishinomaki. Almost 3,100 people in the city lost their lives.
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Kurosawa is a plumber who was working in a neighboring town 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from his city when the earthquake struck. He called his wife, who was sheltering in a bank, and told her to meet him at their home.
However, just a few minutes later, a tsunami warning was issued and when he tried to call his wife again, the phone lines were dead.
Kurosawa jumped into his car and sped home to meet his wife so they could head to higher ground together. Cars raced past him in the opposite direction - people were their way to established evacuation zones in the earthquake-prone country.
As he was near his home, he noticed that cars were being swept away by waves.
He tried to make a U-turn when he saw a man trying to escape the incoming water on foot. ¡°I pulled him into the car through the window, and we sped away from the water. But by then, the tsunami was ahead of us, too,¡± Kurosawa says.
Not able to escape the deadly waves, the pair ditched the car and ran to find shelter.
As Kurosawa climbed up the tree, a branch broke, and he fell onto the embankment. He picked himself back up and climbed the tree again just as the waves swept in. The man he¡¯d rescued did the same. ¡°I almost thought I wouldn¡¯t make it,¡± he says.
¡°It¡¯s hard to imagine the power of a tsunami unless you¡¯ve experienced it ¡ª it¡¯s a destructive force that just swallows everything up and obliterates everything in its path.¡±
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On the morning of May 12, Kurosawa climbed out of the tree and as he made his way home through debris and wrecked infrastructure, he struggled to breathe the smoke-laden air.
His wife was also alive but he had lost several of his friends in the disaster.
For the next six months, Kurosawa and his wife lived in rented homes and their friends¡¯ offices. In August 2011, they moved into temporary disaster housing, a prefabricated building they called home for over three years. Kurosawa put his plumbing skills to use, volunteering to help his local community with odd jobs. He still lives in Ishinomaki.
¡°I went from having a normal routine to having an abnormal one that became the new norm. One year, two years passed ¡ª the abnormal reality returned to normal,¡± says Kurosawa. For five years, he had nightmares of walking through the wreckage of his hometown.
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Today in Ishinomaki, Kurosawa says people¡¯s feelings toward nuclear power in the region remain just as mixed as each person¡¯s experience of the tenth anniversary of the disaster.
¡°People ask me how I feel now it¡¯s been 10 years. I still feel like I¡¯m living on that extended timeline and trying my best,¡± he says.
He says there is no point living in the past. Now, he plays an active role in teaching others about disaster preparedness and keeps moving forward.
¡°One thing I learned from this disaster is that people need to live among each other. I think the hope lies in us,¡± he says.
Sometimes, he drives past the tree that saved his life. He even tried once to reclimb it.
