NAMIE, Fukushima Prefecture--Blackboards in classrooms of an abandoned school here provided the perfect canvas for rescue workers to scribble messages to bolster the morale of evacuees of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Town authorities removed the blackboards on Feb. 26, saying they offer a unique record of the crisis triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
Self-Defense Forces members, police officers and others engaged in rescue activities emblazoned the blackboards of Ukedo Elementary School with messages of hope.
Graduates of the school also wrote down their thoughts. One message reads, “Come on, Ukedo.”
Recently, however, messages unrelated to the triple disasters began appearing.
The Namie town government decided to remove the blackboards to convey experiences of the disasters to future generations. The blackboards will be kept at the gymnasium of another elementary school for the time being, during which local authorities will consider how to preserve them.
“The blackboards are filled with all sorts of thoughts,” said the vice mayor, Katsumi Miyaguchi.
The school is located in an area that is now designated as “a zone being prepared for the lifting of the evacuation order.”