The communities in the Sanriku ria coast have been affected by tsunamis for a long time. After huge tsunami disasters, they have had always faced the difficulty to make a decision, relocations or rebuildings.
The below Figure 1 is the major tsunamis in the Sanriku ria coast.
Figure 1 Tsunami disasters in Sanriku ria coast (Cabinet office of Japan)
The Meiji sanriku tsunami in 1896 was the worst tsunami disaster ever in Japanese recorded history. The Showa sanriku tsunami in 1933 occurred in the midnight, however, they evacuated well because of the Meiji’s experience. As mentioned before, they always needed to choose relocations or rebuildings with the consideration of their resources after the tsunami disasters.
The decisions of each community can be seen in Table 1 (Tentative).
Table 1 Relocations or Rebuilding History of Communities after the Tsunami Disasters(Tentative Table: very rough translation, sorry. Will change soon)
Ref. ( Nakasu,Tanaka, Miyake, 2011)
Some communities relocated to higher grounds after the tsunamis, however, they tended to go back to the original places because of their daily life’s convenience. They are mostly fishermen or making their living by the sea. We can imagine how difficult for them to live in the ground, far from the sea.
To be continued.
