Japan is still searching for tsunami victims

Under the gloomy winter sky, a Japanese Coast Guard ship day after day turned patiently on the beach full of debris and rubbish left by the tsunami.

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Because there are hundreds and hundreds of people under the harsh cold gray water, perhaps thousands of human bodies have not been found. They were killed in the most terrible rage of nature that occurred in Japan on March 11 last year.

Daily searches take place on the coast of Oshinomaki city, Miyagy prefecture, one of the three worst-hit provinces in the tsunami. However, since November, coast guards have not found a victim, apart from the body of an ill-fated victim caught in the fishing net, said search team member Yoshifumi Suzuki.

But they did not give up the mission.

"If we don't, who do?" Suzuki said.

The search for tsunami victims continues.

"We want to continue this work until we find the last one. I want to bring those people back to their families. It is not only my official responsibility, but my duty as well. how a person ".

"The missing people are always in the heart of his / her relatives, and their family wants a proof that they once lived in this world. I think they are hard to accept the truth" if No bodies were found yet.

The terrible tsunami hit northeastern Japan after the March 11 earthquake caused 20,000 people to die. One in every six people who die has never been found.

In the neighboring port city of Ishinomaki and the town of Onagawa, both places were destroyed by tsunamis, with up to 20% of the dead still being listed as missing, even though no one dared to believe them. still living somewhere.

"If the sea is clearer, we might be able to find people. It's hard," Suzuki said, while the Shimakaze ship weighed 26 tons.

The snow occasionally made it difficult for the crew of the five people on the ship when they had to strain their eyes to observe the mist as the sea surface. They also use sonar devices to detect sunk cars or other trash that may be confining their bodies. If you see any object that can be human, they will call the divers right away. But the visibility was poor, just one meter below the water, along with the cold weather that the divers could only stay in the water for a few minutes.

Captain Shimakaze Yoshiyuki Kikuchi, still remembers the horrors that the tsunami brought, and the first few days he embarked on the search for the remains of the victims.

Upon hearing the tsunami warning, Kikuchi drove to the sea to protect the ship, because the waves on the far shore were smaller and easier to steer the ship. He witnessed a giant wall of water about 10 km away from him.

"That's the biggest wave I've ever seen in the world , " he said. "Then I saw rubbish coming from the shore - everything from broken houses, car tires to cargo containers - the spectacle was so frightening."

His way to the shore was blocked by a huge mass of matter from the shore. It was not until three days later that Kikuchi returned to the mainland and began his search for the dead. He has been doing this work for months, and the search is getting harder and harder."We always try our best , " Kikuchi said.

On land, at Kesennuma, the city was completely destroyed by tsunamis and subsequent fires, no one has been found since December, although police continue to work.

For young parents whose children had attended Okawa Elementary School, the tragedy would only end when the bodies of 74 children were returned to them. Tucked away in the thick coat against the cold cut of January, four men patiently dig in the mud, persistently continuing their grieving search to see what remains of the children.

"We haven't seen the kids yet. We are here looking for the kids to go home soon , " one of the men said. Near them, two fortified policemen from Tokyo are praying in front of the altar in memory of 74 students and 10 teachers and school officials who were killed on March 11 last year.

"I am very sad," a policeman said. "I have witnessed hopeless parents looking for children, even a mother trying to get a motor device driver to find the missing child.

"I think the pain will never go away in their hearts . but I hope the missing people will be home soon."