SENDAI--The district court here ordered a municipal government to pay compensation to bereaved family members of a schoolgirl who was swept to her death in the 2011 tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The court said March 24 the public school the child attended could have predicted she would be caught up in the tsunami when it allowed her to return home while accompanied by the parent of a school friend.
The ruling is believed to be the first that recognized the legal responsibility of a local government in lawsuits regarding compensation for tsunami victims.
Bereaved family members of three tsunami victims filed the lawsuit against the Higashi-Matsushima city government in the Sendai District Court seeking a combined 53 million yen ($470,000) in compensation. The three victims at one time had evacuated to the gymnasium of Nobiru Elementary School in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture. The school had been designated as an evacuation center in the event of a natural disaster.
In the March 24 verdict, the court ruled in favor of the family of the schoolgirl, but rejected the compensation claims of the two other families.
The court ruled that Nobiru Elementary School was negligent in the case of the third-grade pupil and ordered that compensation amounting to about 26.6 million yen be paid to her family.
According to the ruling, after the schoolgirl evacuated to the school gymnasium, the father of her friend offered to escort her home. The girl's homeroom teacher allowed the girl to leave with him.
It was a decision that would have devastating consequences. The elementary school was located 1.3 kilometers from the ocean, while the girl's home was only 700 meters from the water. After she returned home, the tsunami swallowed her up.
The court ruled: "In order for the girl to return home, she would have had to pass through areas designated as likely to be flooded, so school officials could have predicted she might run into trouble."
The court also found the school negligent in looking out for the girl's safety by handing her over to an individual who had not been registered beforehand as someone sufficiently responsible to ensure she could get home safety.
According to the lawsuit, after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck on March 11, 2011, two local residents, including an 86-year-old woman, evacuated to Nobiru Elementary School in line with disaster preparedness plans compiled by the Higashi-Matsushima municipal government. The residents were taken to the gymnasium by the school principal, but they perished in the tsunami generated by the offshore earthquake.
The court ruled that city officials could not have foreseen that the tsunami would inundate the school because it was located in an area outside of zones likely to be flooded.
There have been other court cases in which educational institutions were found at fault for the deaths of students due to the tsunami.
A private kindergarten in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, reached a court-mediated settlement with bereaved family members of a child after the Sendai District Court found it at fault.
The same district court also ordered a driving school in Yamamoto, Miyagi Prefecture, to compensate the bereaved family of a student. The school has appealed the ruling to a higher court.