tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388372827914524197.post3010664110683039393..comments2023-05-27T00:08:34.330+09:00Comments on Japan - after the BIG earthquake: June 3, FridayGabi Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362456518166174106noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388372827914524197.post-39600288764188530752011-06-03T15:29:04.777+09:002011-06-03T15:29:04.777+09:00School casualty questions / Parents seek answers f...School casualty questions / Parents seek answers for high death toll at primary school<br />ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi--Some of the parents of students at the municipal Okawa Primary School in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, have requested that the municipal board of education reexamine why nearly 70 percent of its students were killed by the March 11 tsunami.<br /><br />Seventy-four of the school's 108 students were killed or went missing in the tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake, while a total of 13 students at four nearby schools were killed or went missing.<br /><br />The parents submitted a letter of request Wednesday to the board of education. The letter said, "In order to avoid repeating a tragedy like this again, it should be thoroughly reexamined why the children could not be saved."<br /><br />The letter demanded explanations about five points, such as actions taken before the tsunami reached the site and why a raised area so close to Kitakamigawa river was chosen as an evacuation area.<br /><br />Citing other nearby schools as examples, the letter also said that in the other schools, "Students were guided to safe elevated sites and, although the school buildings were hit by the tsunami, the students' lives were protected under the schools' care."<br /><br />Four other primary and middle schools are located along the Kitakamigawa river, which the tsunami rushed through. A total of 13 students of the four schools were killed or went missing.<br /><br />According to the four schools and the board of education, the victims were engulfed by the tsunami after having left their schools.<br /><br />In Yoshihama Primary School near the mouth of Kitakamigawa river, 15 people, including five students, were there when the tsunami struck. All of them were safe as they evacuated to the roof of a three-story school building.<br /><br />In the case of Kitakami Middle School located on a hill on the north shore of the river, 14 third-year students in a school bus were heading home along the river, but the bus returned safely to the school after learning of the tsunami.<br /><br />At Okawa Primary School, all of the students gathered in the schoolyard just after the quake. They were engulfed by the tsunami while heading for a raised area of land near Shin-Kitakami Ohashi bridge.<br /><br />At a school meeting held April 9, a senior teacher, who was the only survivor among 11 teachers who were in the school at the time, told parents that they could not climb the mountain behind the school because of fallen trees.<br /><br />The teacher said that while they were searching for an evacuation site, the students began moving toward the river embankment.<br /><br />But some of the parents voiced their disbelief of this.<br /><br />One of them said: "Teachers should have better understood the risk of the tsunami. There should have been enough time to evacuate to a higher place."<br /><br />Yomiuri <br /><br />http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110602004982.htm<br />.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7388372827914524197.post-47433494429660531032011-06-03T06:02:02.150+09:002011-06-03T06:02:02.150+09:00You do not suffer because things are impermanent.
...You do not suffer because things are impermanent.<br />You suffer because things are impermanent<br />and you think they are permanent.<br /><br />Thich Nhat HanhAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com