KESENNUMA, Miyagi Prefecture--A high school engulfed in a towering tsunami up to its fourth floor opened to visitors as a silent and solemn witness to the disaster on March 10, on the eve of the eighth anniversary.
Kesennuma Koyo High School bears the scars of the tsunami spawned by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, throughout its grounds.
Crushed vehicles and other debris remain piled up in a corridor connecting two school buildings.
The gym lost its roof and grass now grows inside the remains of the structure.
A fourth-floor wall shows damage caused by the impact of a refrigeration factory that was swept by the tsunami.
The school, about 500 meters from the Pacific coast, stands on a low-lying area about 1 meter above sea level.
There were about 170 students and about 50 teachers and officials present when the earthquake hit. One female student was killed.
As of March 1, 15,897 people died in the earthquake and tsunami disaster, with 9,542 in Miyagi Prefecture.