Thank you for visiting the Namie Town Ukedo Elementary School website. The earthquake's remnants opened to the public on October 27, 2021, and by the end of March 2023, about 74,000 individuals (19,585 people) had visited them. We would appreciate it if you could take a look at it once and use it as an opportunity to think about the earthquake and the horror of the tsunami.
Along with the threats and lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, we will pass on the region's memories and records to future generations in order to raise disaster prevention awareness.
Namie Town is located in the northern part of Hamadori in Fukushima Prefecture (the coastal area) and belongs to Futaba County. Surrounded by the sea, mountains, and rivers, it boasts rich natural surroundings and is also famous for specialties such as Ohori Soma ware pottery and Namie yakisoba.
The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 caused tremendous damage to eastern Japan, mainly in Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate. In Fukushima.
Prefecture, residents of municipalities in Futaba-gun were forced to evacuate due to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), and 21,000 townspeople in Namie Town were scattered all over the country.
Later on, as the evacuation orders in Namie Town were implemented, decontamination, infrastructure restoration, and living infrastructure rehabilitation were prioritized. On March 31, 2017, evacuation orders for some areas were lifted, and reconstruction operations, such as the capability to live in some places, were ongoing. On the other hand, many residents of Fukushima Prefecture are currently being forced to evacuate. (extracted from the Namie Town website)
In the Ukedo area, where Ukedo Elementary School is located, 127 people died from the tsunami; 27 people were missing; and many people were killed.Even at Ukedo Elementary School, which is about 300 meters from the sea, there was a long shaking that no one had ever experienced before.
While the disaster prevention radio was alerted to the tsunami warning, there were 83 students from the second to sixth grades in the school building, except 11 first-year students who left. While the disaster prevention radio was alerted to the tsunami warning, there were 83 students from the second to sixth grades in the school building, except 11 first-year students who left. The teachers immediately urged the children to evacuate and headed to Mt. Ohira, about 1.5 kilometers away from the designated evacuation site.
When the vice principal finally checked inside and outside the school building, they noticed a large tsunami rushing in, and the tsunami destroyed Uketo Elementary School about 40 minutes after the earthquake.
The children walked a few more kilometers across the evacuation site, boarded a truck on inland National Route 6, and arrived at Sunshine Namie, near the city hall, where all of the children and teachers were able to evacuate safely.
