TONI, Iwate -- Stairs along a concrete wall at the foot of a hill in this fishing community saved the lives of many residents from the deadly tsunami that was triggered by the March 11 earthquake that destroyed scores of homes.
When tsunami threatened to engulf the entire community, many local residents quickly ran up the stairs attached to the concrete wall built at the foot of a hill and managed to survive. The wall was built behind Ryonoshin Kasai's home in the Hongo district of the town of Toni in the city of Kamaishi, in 1976. "Without the stairs, there was no escape for us. I am glad I had them built," said 74-year-old Kasai, pointing to the stairs attached to the wall about eight meters high.
Kasai's home was built on high ground, on a leveled hill, near a fishing port after the 1933 Showa Sanriku Earthquake/Tsunami devastated the region. When tsunami hit the region on March 11, more than a dozen fearful local residents and firefighters gathered in front of Kasai's home, but the water came up close to the ground before long.
"Go up the hill!" Kasai shouted, urging the local residents to run up the stairs. In the end, his home was flooded only up to the floorboards. But he said, "I feel scared when I imagine the tsunami was bigger." All local residents but one survived.
In 1976, the Iwate Prefectural Government designated the hill at the back of Kasai's home as a "steep slope danger zone" that could collapse at any time and built the concrete wall. The prefectural government constructed the stairs after receiving a request from Kasai, who said the stairs would be needed "to go up the hill."
"When I made the request, I didn't have tsunami in mind. But we had a narrow escape from death this time," he said.
"The stairs were useful as an evacuation route," said Koji Kawasaki, associate professor of river engineering at the Graduate School of Nagoya University, who conducted research in the area.
There are other cases of similar evacuation routes built as part of measures against tsunami. In Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, which could be hit by major tsunami triggered by Nankai and Tonankai earthquakes in the future, people at a kindergarten on low-lying ground by the sea would have found it difficult to evacuate. In 2005, the prefectural government set up stairs so that people could walk up along a wall to evacuate to the top of the cliff.
When a tsunami warning was issued following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, children at the kindergarten were able to walk up the stairs quickly to evacuate. Kazuko Maeji, head of the kindergarten, said, "Even children could run up the stairs. In case of an emergency, I thought it would certainly be reassuring."
(Mainichi Japan) April 27, 2011
東日本大震災：コンクリート壁の階段で住民が難を逃れる
東日本大震災で大津波に襲われ、多くの住宅が流失した岩手県釜石市唐丹（とうに）町本郷地区で、裏山のコンクリート壁に取り付けた階段が避難路の役割を果たし、住民の多くが難を逃れた。今後の津波防災への一つの教訓となりそうだ。【五十嵐和大】
「これがなければ逃げ場は無かった。造っておいてよかった」。本郷地区に住む葛西良之進さん（７４）は、自宅裏の高さ約８メートルの壁に備え付けられた階段を指さした。
葛西さんの自宅は本郷地区が壊滅的被害に遭った昭和三陸地震津波（１９３３年）の後、漁港近くの裏山を切り崩して造成された高台に建つ。３月１１日の津波では、危険を感じた周辺住民や消防団員ら十数人が葛西さんの自宅前にいったん避難したが、間もなく地面近くまで水が上がってきた。
「裏山さ逃げろ」。葛西さんはとっさに叫び、階段を使って壁に上るよう住民を促した。結果的に自宅への津波被害は床下浸水で済んだが「もっと大きな津波だったらと思うと恐ろしい」と振り返った。地区の死者は１人だった。
岩手県は７６年、葛西さん方の裏山を「急傾斜地崩壊危険区域」に指定し、コンクリートの壁を建設。その際、「山に入るため」という葛西さんの要望で階段が設置された経緯がある。葛西さんは「津波のことまで考えて要望したわけではないが、命拾いした」と振り返った。現地を調査した名古屋大大学院の川崎浩司准教授（河川工学）は「避難路に有効だった」と評価している。
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同様の避難路を津波対策で整備した例もある。南海地震、東南海地震による大津波が想定される和歌山県串本町。海岸近くの低地に建つ町立出雲幼稚園は、背後に崖があって高台への避難が難しい場所だ。県は０５年度、壁に沿って崖の上に避難するための階段を設置した。
３月１１日の東日本大震災で大津波警報が出た際は、この階段を使って幼稚園に残っていた園児をいち早く避難させることができた。前地和子園長は「子供でもすぐに駆け上がることができ、いざという時には心強いと思った」と効果を実感している。
英訳毎日新聞 2011年4月23日 11時17分（最終更新 4月23日 12時24分）
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