OFUNATO, Iwate Prefecture--When the Great East Japan Earthquake hit, 71 children at Okirai Elementary School here quickly escaped the oncoming tsunami by taking a shortcut made possible by a local politician's foresight.
OFUNATO, Iwate Prefecture--When the Great East Japan Earthquake hit, 71 children at Okirai Elementary School here quickly escaped the oncoming tsunami by taking a shortcut made possible by a local politician's foresight.
A 10-meter-long passage, connecting the school's second floor directly to a road on a 5-meter-high cliff, was completed only last December thanks to the efforts of Takeshi Hirata, a member of the Ofunato city assembly.
Hirata, vice chairman of the assembly, died of kidney failure March 2, nine days before the disaster struck and the school's three-story building was battered by the ensuing tsunami. He was 65.
"The tsunami came too soon after the quake struck," said Kosei Endo, the school's vice principal. "Thanks to the evacuation passage, the children were able to get out in a much shorter time."
The school stands only 200 meters from the sea. Before the passage was built, children in the event of a tsunami were to exit from the first floor, run up a slope for about 70 meters to the top of a cliff, from where they were to head to Sanriku Station further up the hill.
One of Hirata's relatives said he mentioned more than once, a few years before, that it would take too much time for the children to get downstairs if a tsunami was coming.
"It would be quicker if they could go directly out to the road from the second floor," Hirata was quoted as saying.
According to the assembly's minutes, Hirata, who hailed from the same district as the school, told a session in March 2008: "I think Okirai Elementary School is at the greatest risk if a tsunami hits.
"I'd like to make a request, as my 'will'--that a passageway be built, like a bridge."
As a result, the city decided to build an aerial corridor connecting the school's second floor to the road.
When the allocation of about 4 million yen ($49,000) was approved, Hirata was pleased, and pressed the city to quickly build it.
When the temblor hit, the children and their teachers fled through the passage to safety. Soon after, the tsunami rushed in, damaging the school building and burying the passage under rubble.
"We never expected a tsunami of this scale to hit," said Kiyoto Yamaguchi, deputy chief of the city's education board. "I am really happy we built it."
He added that Hirata "really cared for children."
Among the 71 pupils who escaped via the passage were Hirata's three grandchildren.
Hirata's eldest son Daisuke, 38, said, "I think my father is satisfied with his last contribution to the people. When my third-grade son grows up, I will tell him (about what his grandfather did)."