YAMAMOTO, Miyagi -- In this idyllic Miyagi Prefecture town on the border with Fukushima Prefecture, the decisions and actions of leaders at two coastal elementary schools saved the lives of students and staff from tsunamis that washed over breakwaters following the massive quake that struck northeast Japan on March 11.
When the school began to shake violently at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, the assistant principal at Yamashita Daini Elementary School grabbed a microphone linked to the school's public address system. "Take cover under your desks!" he said, and turned on the television. It shook too much, however, for him to decipher anything on the screen. Another teacher, Kunio Ota, dashed out of the teachers' office toward the first graders' classrooms. He could hear children's cries.
When the shaking stopped, the students and staff all gathered in the schoolyard, just as they'd practiced during their emergency drills. On his final walk-through of the school building to make sure there were no stragglers, Ota learned from a television in one of the first-grade classrooms that a major tsunami warning had been issued.
By 3:10 p.m., parents were arriving at school to collect their children. Since school policy dictates that students cannot be handed over to guardians without identity checks, teachers tediously checked names off a list of family members before handing off students.
It was then that someone bellowed, "What are you doing?! Get out of here! There's going to be a tsunami!" It was a local resident who had come running to the school.
"I realized then that we didn't have time to be doing what we were doing," Ota recalled. "If that man hadn't yelled at us at that moment, we might all have died."
Going up to the roof was not an option, because it was tiled. The principal, Takao Watanabe, quickly decided to start transporting the students to safety.
"Teachers who have cars here, take as many children as you can and drive them to the town office," he said. "Other teachers, take the remaining children with you on foot in the same direction."
The town office was located on a hill, some four kilometers from the school. Around 70 students whose parents had not come for them were left in the care of the school staff. Six teachers took as many children as they could in their cars, and the vice principal and four other staff left the school on foot with the remaining children.
Seiko Iwasa, who chairs the PTA, was heading toward the school when he ran into the vice principal with a group of children rushing for higher ground. At the vice principal's request, Iwasa returned home to get his minivan. When he caught up with the last of the students with his car and opened the sliding door, he heard what sounded like huge thunderclaps that went on forever -- the sound of an approaching tsunami. The dozen or so children who had just climbed into the car began to cry.
The six teachers continued to shuttle back and forth in their cars, carrying students to higher ground. Third grader Shino Watanabe, who was among a group of students picked up by one of the teachers near the train station located about 500 meters northwest of the school, said, "After I got in the car, I saw blue waves swallowing up houses. I told the teacher to hurry."
As it turned out, it had been a particularly close call for the vice principal, who was bringing up the rear with the last group of students. He, too, was picked up near the train station. "I found out afterwards that the tsunami reached the station only five or 10 minutes later," he said. "If we'd all tried to walk to town hall on foot, there's no way we would've made it."
Meanwhile, Watanabe, the principal, had stayed behind at the school by himself to let parents who might come looking for their children know that they had been evacuated. After dealing with 20 or so parents at the school gate, he turned around to see waves surging over the 6.2-meter-high breakwater just 300 meters away. He ran to the second floor of the school and grabbed a book from the library, hoping it would help him stay afloat when the wave hit. Luckily, the water never got to the second floor.
"I was going to use the book as a raft if it ever came to that," he said. "But I knew that if more waves were to come, I stood no chance."
Watanabe was rescued the next morning by a Self-Defense Forces (SDF) helicopter.
Located five kilometers south of Yamashita Daini Elementary School is Nakahama Elementary School. When the temblor hit, principal Takeshi Inoue rushed out of his office. The television in the teachers' office warned that a tsunami was expected to reach nearby shores in 10 minutes.
According to the school's emergency manual, students are to be evacuated to a junior high school located 1.5 kilometers northeast of Nakahama Elementary if tsunamis are not expected to strike for 20 minutes or longer. On March 11, however, they had only half that time. Judging that it would be impossible for the younger students to make it in time, the principal instructed everyone to go up to the school roof.
About 90 people, including students, staff and local residents, filled the roof of the school. Twenty minutes went by with no tsunami, then 30. Looking back, the principal said that as time passed and tensions waned, students and parents who had joined them became chatty or looked out toward the ocean. But, he said, "No one suggested that we go back downstairs." He, for one, was certain that the waves would come, as there had been television reports that tsunamis were already reaching other areas.
The vice principal, Yasuhiro Sasamori, remembers that it was 3:40 p.m. when the first round of tsunamis knocked down the pine trees on the beach. Cries went up from the group on the roof, and students and parents were then led into a 200-square-meter attic space. The first wave barely soaked the foundations of the building, which were raised about two meters from ground level as an anti-tsunami measure. The second surge, however, which arrived a minute later, came up all the way to the second floor.
"I heard terrible sounds of glass breaking and desks flipping over," said Hiroki Kobayashi, a fifth grader at the school. "A lot of kids were covering their ears."
Tension reached its peak as some members of the group caught sight of an enormous wave that was easily twice the size of the last one. Sasamori overheard someone whisper, "This is the end." It was clear that if the wave reached the school without breaking, it would swallow it whole. Inoue prayed that the undertow of the last surge would break the one approaching.
In the next instant, the third tsunami hit the backwash of the preceding one, and the waves shrank. Still, the tsunami reached the second floor and sprayed water onto the roof.
The following morning, everyone on the roof was taken to safety by SDF helicopters. Teacher Yasunori Kusaka said he'd never forget what he saw when he looked down from the helicopter. "There was nothing left, except for our school. Even now, I'm surprised that we made it."
(Mainichi Japan) May 6, 2011
証言３・１１：東日本大震災 宮城・山元の２小学校、素早い判断児童救う
◇「逃げろ」怒声に即決
福島県境にある宮城県南部の山元町。津波は高さ約６・２メートルの防波堤を越え、美しい砂浜とのどかな田園が広がる町を襲った。いずれも海岸から約３００メートルの低地にある町立の山下第二小（児童数２０２人）と中浜小（５９人）は津波で校舎が壊れ、児童は２５日からの新学期を別の学校で迎えた。あの日、山下第二小は先生が児童を車に乗せて逃げ、中浜小は全員が２階建て校舎の屋上に駆け上がった。それぞれの学校が誘導した児童は全員無事だった。子どもたちの命を守ったのは、判断の速さと、幸運だった。【遠藤浩二、澤木政輝】
◇確認作業打ち切り、車でピストン輸送－－山下第二小
３月１１日午後２時４６分。激しい揺れに山下第二小の作間健教頭（５５）は校内放送のマイクをつかんだ。「机の下にもぐりなさい」。テレビをつけたが、揺れがひどく見られない。教務主任の太田久二男教諭（５２）は職員室を飛び出し、１年生の教室に走った。泣き声が聞こえる。
揺れが収まり、訓練通り全員が校庭へ出た。巡視係の太田教諭は校舎を一巡し、全員の避難を確認して最後に校舎を出た。その直前、１年生の教室のテレビで大津波警報が出ているのを知った。
午後３時１０分。校庭に保護者が次々に駆け付けた。学校は身元を確認せずに子どもを引き渡せない。氏名や家族構成、連絡先を記載した「非常持ち出し簿」と照合して児童を引き渡した。
怒声が響いた。「何やってんだ。早く逃げろ。津波が来るぞ」。走ってきた男性が言った。太田教諭は振り返る。「こんなことやってる場合じゃないと気付いた。もしあの時、あの一声がなければ、逃げ遅れて全滅していたかもしれない」
瓦ぶきの校舎で屋上避難はできない。渡辺孝男校長（５２）は確認作業を打ち切り、即決した。「車を出せる先生は車で子どもを役場へ。他は残った子と歩いて役場へ」。役場は学校から約４キロの小高い場所にある。保護者の迎えがなく残った児童は約７０人。太田教諭ら６人が車６台に子どもを乗れるだけ乗せ、残った３０人ほどを作間教頭ら５人が連れて役場へ急いだ。
ＰＴＡ会長の岩佐政公さん（３８）は学校に向かう途中、小走りの作間教頭と子どもたちに会った。「車が足りない。頼みます」。作間教頭の言葉に、自宅にワゴン車を取りに戻り、児童の列に追いつきドアを開けた。その瞬間「どでかい雷がずっと続くような音」を聞いた。津波だ。乗ったばかりの十数人の子どもたちが泣き始めた。
教員の車６台は、役場と徒歩組の間を往復し、児童をピストン輸送した。学校の北西約５００メートルのＪＲ山下駅近くで、車に乗れた３年の渡辺志乃さん（９）は「乗車後、家をのむ青い波が見えた。『先生、早く早く』ってせかした」。
ＪＲ山下駅付近で徒歩組の最後に車に乗った作間教頭は「駅に津波が来たのはそれから５～１０分後だったと聞いている。全員が歩いていたら、とても間に合わなかった」。
渡辺校長は一人で学校に残った。その後に来る保護者に児童の避難を伝えるためだ。校門で２０人前後に対応し、振り返ると、約３００メートル先の防波堤を越える津波が見えた。２階に走った。水は２階に届かなかったが、図書室の本棚から本を出した。「万が一の時はいかだにするつもりだった。でももっと波がきたらアウトだと覚悟していた」。翌朝、渡辺校長は自衛隊のヘリで救出された。
◇「低学年の足では間に合わぬ」屋上へ避難－－中浜小
山下第二小から南に約５キロ。中浜小の井上剛校長（５３）は、強い揺れに校長室を飛び出した。職員室のテレビは津波到達予想時刻を１０分後と流している。
中浜小の危機管理マニュアルは津波到達まで２０分以上の場合、北西約１・５キロの町立坂元中への避難を定めている。しかし、時間は１０分。「低学年の足では間に合わない」。井上校長は校内の全員に校舎の屋上に上がるよう指示した。
児童、教職員に近所の人たちも加わり、９０人が屋上に。２０分、３０分……。津波は来ない。井上校長は「学年別に１列に座っていた子どもたちも保護者もおしゃべりしたり、海を見たりしていた。だが誰も『下りよう』とは言わなかった」と振り返る。井上校長は「必ず来る」と思っていた。既に到達した場所があると、テレビが伝えていたからだ。
笹森泰弘教頭（５０）は第１波が浜辺の松をなぎ倒したのを「午後３時４０分」と記憶している。「キャー」「お母さん」。悲鳴が上がった。子どもたちと保護者を屋上にある約２００平方メートルの屋根裏部屋に入れた。
第１波は津波対策で高さ約２メートルにしていた校舎の土台がつかる程度。だが約１分後に来た第２波は２階に届いた。５年生の小林裕己さん（１１）は「ガシャガシャ、ダーン、とガラスが割れたり机が倒れるものすごい音がした。耳をふさいでいる子も多かった」。
緊張は極限に達する。沖合に第２波の倍以上ある巨大な波が見えた。「終わりだ」。見張っていた笹森教頭は誰かがつぶやくのを聞いた。「そのまま来たら屋上も丸ごとのまれる」。井上校長は、引き波が第３波を崩すことを祈った。
次の瞬間、１～２キロ沖で、第３波は引き波とぶつかり、波が小さくなった。それでも第３波は２階に達し、しぶきは屋上に降った。
翌１２日朝、自衛隊のヘリに全員が救助された。日下泰憲教諭（３７）はヘリから見た風景が忘れられない。「学校以外は何も残っていなかった。よく無事だったなと、今でも思う」（肩書と学年、年齢などは当時）
英訳毎日新聞 2011年4月26日 東京朝刊
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