UM TO FUKUSHIMA

Arai 3.11 Community Memorial Center tour guide, Midori Hanabuchi, feels she is giving back to her community in teaching visitors about what happened to Sendai in the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011. Hanabuchi watched the second and third waves attack the city. “I thought it was the end of my life,” she said.

 

Hanabuchi says the water was black and sticky, viscous with contaminants including gasoline, petroleum products and other chemicals. Although she has stayed in touch with old neighbors, she has closer friendships now with those she spent time with in the days immediately following the disaster. “We helped each other after the earthquake,” she says, “and we have become much closer.”

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Photos and text by Sydney MacDonald