ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture--Residents here have finally agreed to preserve part of an elementary school building that was ravaged by tsunami and fire following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake as a symbol for future generations.
Some wanted the structure torn down because seeing it brought back terrible memories from the disaster.
But Ishinomaki city government officials held an explanatory meeting on May 13 for local residents and laid out a plan to tear down about half of the former Kadonowaki Elementary School building and preserve the rest.
Attendees at the meeting agreed to the plan.
"At first, I didn't even want to look at it," said Toyokazu Abe, 66, who lives near the former elementary school. "But now that six years have passed after the disaster, I have come to hold a stronger feeling that we have to pass on what occurred there."
Kadonowaki Elementary School was located about one kilometer from the coast. Tsunami waves swept through the first floor of the three-story structure, while fire gutted the top two floors.
It is believed the tsunami swept in cars and propane gas cylinders to the school building, leading to rubble inside catching fire.
There were 224 students at the elementary school on March 11, 2011. They all evacuated safely to higher ground behind the school.
But more than 400 residents in the neighborhood perished.
That toll was a major reason city government officials took the feelings of residents into consideration and came out with a compromise plan for preserving the Kadonowaki Elementary School building.
It is unusual for a structure damaged by both tsunami and fire to be preserved.
The entire building is 107 meters long, but only 54 meters of the central part will be saved with both ends of the building to be torn down.
Even after the building is preserved, entry will be prohibited. Instead, a new facility to be constructed nearby will show a video of the school building interior.
Large vinyl sheets now cover the school building, but plans call for completing the preservation work by the end of fiscal 2019.
Ishinomaki city government officials also explained another plan to preserve the former Okawa Elementary School building, where 74 students either died or are still listed as missing.
The skeletal remains of the main building will be preserved along with the foundation of the gymnasium, which was all that was left of that facility. Trees will be planted on the west side of the site to create a separate area where bereaved family members can have a private space to visit and pray for their loved ones.