On March 11, the Sugiura family was in the middle of a typical day. Mrs. Sugiura was taking care of her one year old son, their 7 year old daughter was at the local elementary school, and Mr. Sugiura was at work at a firestation in a neighboring town.
It snowed that morning, and Mrs. Sugiura decided that it would be good to go pick up her daughter at school. She bundled up her son in his carseat, put their dog in the car, and began the short drive up the hill from their home to the elementary school.
As she picked up her daughter and got her in the car, the earthquake hit. It was a significant quake. Having grown up in Onagawa, she had heard old people talk about the danger of Tsunamis. She knew that she needed to find high ground, but she couldn't decide which way to go. Very quickly, the roads began to fill up cars. With traffic getting worse, she decided to drive to her husband's uncle's home in nearby Ishinogaki. That town is far up the hillside and in her mind so far up that there would be no danger there from a Tsunami.
The tsunami warning sirens sounded. Since she was in her car, she just kept on going. Just one week earlier, there had been a tsunami siren test. Unfortunately, many people assumed that the sirens this time were another drill and didn't get to safety.
This video from YouTube shows the tsunami engulfing Onagawa
When she arrived at her relative's home, she heard the announcement on the radio - a large tsunami was coming. She was glad that she was in Ishinogaki and at high ground. She had just gotten her son out of his car seat when she heard a roar. It was rumbling and ominous. She turned around and saw a large wall of black water moving towards them. It was like something you'd see in a movie, she said.
Their dog was still in the car, but in that moment, she decided there was no time to save their dog. She had her kids and that was enough. She rushed into the house and up to the 2nd floor.
The tsunami hit moments later. The water swept the car away and filled the first floor of the house to the ceiling.
Mr. Sugiura is a fireman. He was at work in a nearby town and manning the 119 phones. The building was designed to withstand earthquakes and he was not injured in the quake.
There was no way he could leave to check on his family. He needed to stay at work. But he was all too aware that their home was only 1 minute away from the ocean.
Mrs. Sugiura had to wait for 3 days for the water to recede from the first floor. There were cans of coke and rice crackers on the second floor. For those days, she rationed the rice crackers between herself and the 2 children. Their one year old needed food and liquid, but the shock had taken its toll on Mrs. Sugiura, and she had no appetite. When the water finally receeded, she couldn't leave the house. Outside there was debree, mud, and human remains strewn around.
On day 4, Mr. Sugiura was given permission to leave his post in the firehouse and look for his family. He returned to Onagawa to search for them.
Onagawa sits on the edge of a bay with hills rising around.
This TV footage shows what Onagawa would have looked like when Mr. Sugiura was looking for his family.
And this is how it looked when we were there six months later.
Most of the homes near the ocean had been swept away. Today all that is left are foundations.
There were three and four story buildings turned on their sides from the force of the wave.
Mr. Sugiura searched in his neighborhood. But there was no sign of his home or family. After a day of looking for them, he finally gave up and resigned himself that they were gone. He decided to go to his uncle's home in Ishinogaki to check on his extended family.
When he arrived, his wife and 2 children were there and safe. Being Japanese, there were too reserved to describe how they felt at being reunited.
The next day, they began to explore the damage in the neighborhood. As they were going around, they heard a familiar barking. Just a few homes away in the backyard was their dog. Somehow the dog survived in the car, gotten out and was still in the neighborhood.
They said it was a real miracle that their immediate family all survived. But they were not without loss. Mrs. Sugiura's grandmother who ran an inn nearby in Onagawa was killed by the quake. Many people who picked up their kids at the Onagawa elementary school didn't get to high enough ground and were killed. Out of a town of 10,000 people, over 850 lost their lives.
The Sugiuras did say that after the tsunami there was one thing that was beautiful and that was the stars. Because all electricity was out, the sky was beautiful at night.
Six months later, they are still living in Mr. Sugiura's uncle's home. They have electricity and cell phones now, but no computer. The first floor is still uninhabitable. But they recently found out that some American carpenters are coming to volunteer and will be fixing their home.
As we finished our conversation. They bowed and told us thank you for listening. We thanked them for being willing to share their story with us.
- Posted from my iPad
