MINAMI-SANRIKU, Miyagi Prefecture--The skeletal steel frame of a building that stands as a symbol of the devastation caused by the 2011 tsunami disaster is to be preserved as a memorial after all, according to sources.
MINAMI-SANRIKU, Miyagi Prefecture--The skeletal steel frame of a building that stands as a symbol of the devastation caused by the 2011 tsunami disaster is to be preserved as a memorial after all, according to sources.
Mayor Jin Sato is expected to announce in June the town's decision to accept Miyagi Prefecture’s proposal that ownership of the gutted building be transferred to the prefectural government so it can conserve the structure.
The three-story disaster management center building withstood towering tsunami but was stripped of everything other than its frame.
The town government had struggled to keep up with maintenance costs while arguments raged over whether to tear down the structure or preserve it as a memorial.
Municipal authorities originally leaned to dismantling it, but had a change of heart because the structure was recognized as a powerful image around the world of the damage caused by the disaster.
The municipality said May 25 it had received 664 suggestions from town residents since April and that 60 percent of those deemed valid were in favor of the proposal. Although the town assembly had adopted a petition to tear down the structure at the earliest possible date, it is expected to go along with the preservation plan.
The disaster management center was 12 meters high and overwhelmed by 15.5-meter-high tsunami, claiming the lives of 43 town officials and others.
While many residents had been calling for conservation of the structure, some families who lost members to the tsunami demanded it be dismantled on grounds the structure was a painful reminder of the tragedy.
Elsewhere in Miyagi Prefecture, the No. 18 Kyotoku Maru, a fishing boat that was swept far inland by the tsunami, has been removed from the Kesennuma area where it ended up.
Also, a tourist hotel in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, whose first and second floors were stripped bare by the tsunami, has been deemed as a symbol of the disaster. Local authorities have decided to conserve the damaged facility as a reminder of the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami it spawned.