Shichigo Elementary School, Sendai City (2) : [School and the Earthquake Disaster] Shichigo Elementary School, Sendai City

All elementary and junior high schools in Sendai City closed after the earthquake, not reopening until March 23. Shichigo Elementary School decided to also close on March 24 and 25 as a large number of people had taken refuge at the school.The school’s gymnasium could not be used for shelter due to the aftershocks, so we used the halls of the school building. The earthquake was on such an enormous scale that conventional evacuation procedures were not sufficient. We now need to reconsider how we should manage shelters from a broad perspective....