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On March 11, 2011, when the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, the Arahama district of Wakabayashi Ward in Sendai City was reported for the first time as “Was the body of 200 to 300 people found?” Ten years after that, the people who lived there moved inland, and in recent years, the foundation of the house and the place where weeds were overgrown for many years have finally been used.
Although there are no more people to live in, the neighborhood leaders at the time spoke about the current state of Arahama as a “new daily life” was being built.
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Sunrise seen from the coast of Arahama. Even the morning after the Great East Japan Earthquake, “it was a dazzling sunrise” = provided by Hiroshi Maenohama, Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai
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The precipitous tsunami covered the entire urban landscape except the Arahama = primary school provided by the city of Sendai on the afternoon of March 11, 2011
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The Maenohama Home Trail Circa June 2012
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It is now filled with dirt and turned into an “evacuation hill”.
The surfer’s appearance again, “I hated the sea all the time, but I wonder if it’s okay.”
Waves expanding from the southeast direction are greatly increased by the rugged terrain. Arahama in Wakabayashi Ward, Sendai City was once a well-known surf spot to those in the know.
Surfers who have been out for several years after the Great East Japan Earthquake have returned here and there in recent years. Among them were Hiroshi Maenohama (55), an office worker who once lived in Arahama, and Kaoru Suenaga (54), a self-employed worker. Maenohama says.
“This is a place that has killed a lot of people. That is why I hated the sea for a long time.
Hiroshi Maenohama (front center) and Kaoru Suenaga (behind center) taking photos with friends after surfing = Provided by Maenohama on the Arahama coast in December 2019
The night of March 11, 2011. “Did you find the bodies of 200 to 300 people in Arahama, Sendai?” This captioned breaking news was broadcast on television. Images of the massive tsunami that rushed towards the Tohoku coast were shown repeatedly, but only a few casualties were confirmed at the time. As if this breaking news were a “precursor”, the death toll has skyrocketed since then.
At the time of the earthquake, more than 2,000 people from approximately 740 households lived in Arahama, which is located on the coast of Sendai, the largest city of 1 million people in Tohoku. A tsunami of up to 30 feet struck there, killing 186 people, including those around the day.
The precipitous tsunami covered the entire urban landscape except the Arahama = primary school provided by the city of Sendai on the afternoon of March 11, 2011
A few months after the earthquake, the city of Sendai has designated 1,213 hectares of coastal areas, including the Arahama area, as “disaster risk areas” where it is not possible to build new or additional houses. In other words, he “sentenced” the former residents by saying, “I can no longer live in the original place.” As a result of the simulation of the city, it was concluded that even if measures such as the construction of a seawall on the coast are taken, human life cannot be saved if a tsunami of the level of the Great East Japan Earthquake is precipitated.
Former residents of the affected coastal areas will be relocated inland. Of these, Mr. Suenaga and Mr. Maenohama, who were in their 40s at the time, led the Arahama group relocation.
In a mass relocation, you can rent the land you are relocating to, but you are responsible for the house you build on it. Although the local government can buy land in the coastal area that was damaged by the disaster, there is no prospect of redevelopment due to the disaster and the price of land in Sendai City has fallen dramatically. It was not easy for residents to join in the context of the heavy burden of self-pay, which costs at least 10 million yen.
“Why do we, who were affected by the disaster, have to pay so much money?”
“You are not at the mercy of the administration.”
Mr. Suenaga, who repeatedly got angry at frustrated residents, recalls, “Actually, I was upset many times and decided to stop (picking up former residents).”
The leader at that time now thinks: “We ourselves will win a successful rebuilding.”
However, the two volunteered to actively participate in negotiations with the government and building consensus among residents. There were also results such as “winning” a better relocation destination through repeated negotiations regarding the group’s relocation destination with little convenience and land, which was initially presented by Sendai City.
“We have to get him out of the ‘active generation’, not the older generation. I thought it was our responsibility to leave the children with a safe hometown,” (Mr. Suenaga).
From 2014 to 2015, three or four years after the earthquake, many of Arahama’s former residents moved out one after another. The reconstruction of the residence was accomplished earlier than in other disaster-affected areas where the reconstruction was delayed due to the consensus building of the residents and the creation of the relocation destination.
Maenohama also rebuilt a two-story 4LDK single-family home in 2014, and Suenaga also rebuilt a two-story 5LDK single-family home in 2015 in a residential area about 6 kilometers inland from Arahama. They both say.
“There are subway stations and shopping centers within walking distance, so it is very convenient and comfortable to live in. At that time, we worked hard to negotiate with the city and secured a good relocation destination. I have to win, I really think so. .. “
(Image) Trace of Maenohama’s home circa June 2012 (top). Now the earth piles up and becomes an “evacuation hill” (bottom) = Arahama, Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai
On the other hand, the site of Arahama, where the former residents moved and were left uninhabited. On the day of the earthquake, the Arahama Elementary School, where many people were evacuated to the roof, will be preserved as the remains of the earthquake. The area where Maenohama’s house was located was filled with dirt and became an evacuation site in the event of a future tsunami as an “evacuation hill.” Other than that, there are still many places where the desolate landscape remains, and is in the process of being remodeled.
“I want the people who lived in Arahama to meet here again.”
Suenaga, who came up with this idea, applied with a friend for a project in the city of Sendai to rent the group’s relocation site and use it, and decided to rent 0.6 hectares of land together to create a farm. joint. For the opening in April 2021, we will go to Arahama every weekend to make preparations like cleaning, digging wells and installing fences. The plan is for former Arahama residents to grow fruits and flowers on a total of 46 plots.
There is also a facility where you can have a barbecue, and he says, “I want it to be a place for people to relax.”
Kaoru Suenaga (center) and others prepare to open a joint farm at the site of the mass relocation in Arahama = Provided by Mr. Suenaga in Fall 2020
A tourist farm designed by a JR East Group company will open on March 18 at a location about 700 meters inland from the joint farm of Mr. Suenaga and others.
Arahama Beach, which was crowded before the earthquake on the Aomatsu coast, one of the whitest sands in Miyagi Prefecture, was still “closed”, but in 2019 three “sea bathing events” took place. . It was not implemented on the 20th due to the influence of the new coronavirus, but according to the Sendai City Tourism Division, it would be desirable to consider whether it will resume on the 21st depending on the coronavirus situation.
Even if it is rebuilt, it will not be restored. However, 10 years have passed since the earthquake and a new daily life is about to be built in Arahama.
