Reportage

Searching for identity - the memory of the tsunami

Japan March 2011

After the disaster of the tsunami in Japan, the survivors wiped their tears away and started to search for their identity. In the meanwhile, the SDF, Japan's Self-Defence Forces, are still looking for the missing.
This reportage shows what happened in Japan in the month following the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.
To this day,the total number of dead people for the disaster is higher than 15.800, while the missing are still more than 4000.

A crumbling house in the center of Kesennuma. Many of the inhabitants go back to their houses to look for personal objects or memories. Many of them leave a sign indicating the name of the owners or where they are living now and the conditions of the family.
In Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, the number of dead people was 765 and the missing were 1270 at the moment the photos were taken. The evacuees and refugees were 6750. A wide area of the city center was devastated by the Tsunami and, later, by a huge fire.

Kesennuma, the devastated city center. The inhabitants wander around town by bike. Many boats and ships were run aground.

82 year-old Eiji Suda is looking for his house, which was washed away by the tsunami, with his son.
Until now he has only found the roof, 200 meters from the foundation. "I was saved by a hair's breath. If I had waited five minutes more, I would have been carried away by the water". He used to work in a stationery shop with his wife, selling school articles, little objects and cosmetics. Now he is living with his son.

The celebration of the funeral of a victim of the tsunami. The last goodbye through a small opening in the coffin. Most of the people in the Kesennuma crematory died of lacerations, contusions and drowning. In the Miyagi prefecture of Kesennuma, until now the victims are 700, while the missing are still more than 1200.

The SDF, Japan's Self-Defence Forces, looking for the missing. After each inspection, the soldiers tie a colored string indicating that the research in that area has been done.

In Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, a soldier from the SDF, Japan's Self-Defence Forces, looks for the missing. Many of the soldiers, who were enrolled at the last moment, are severely shocked because of the total lack of experience.

A destroyed house in the center of Kamaishi, in the Iwate prefecture.

A destroyed house in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture. Some of the missing could still be under the debris.

The temporary local cemetery in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture. The stakes for the graves are numbered until 2000. This place was originally a football and baseball pitch and has been turned to a cemetery where some 2000 bodies will be buried. In Japan the bodies are usually cremated before burial, but because the victims were too many in Ishinomaki, they will be buried without cremation. This is an exceptional case in Japan.

Walking down across the Hiyorimiyama park in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, one can see the devastation brought by the tsunami. Many of the missing are probably still under the debris.