Page 12 - TORCH #18 - May 2021

‘We will never forget Israel’s help’
How Israel helped a devastated community in Japan after the destructive Tsunami in 2011
12
CUFI.ORG.UK
Ten years ago, Japan experienced
a terrible natural disaster. On 11 March 2011, the worst earthquake in Japan’s history triggered a
Department was among the first to know of the oncoming tsunami and immediately began warning residents to evacuate. Miki knew the devastation that was coming towards her, but instead of heeding her own warnings, she chose to stay put and ensure that her message would continue to sound out through the town’s network of loudspeakers instead of leaving for safety.
massive tsunami in the Pacific Ocean, and Japan’s eastern coastline bore the brunt of its force.
When the sea rose and crashed into Japan that day, it took away the lives of 18,000 people. Many thousands more were injured and over 250,000 people were left homeless. Many of us will never forget the images we saw on the news showing us the disaster which befell Japan that day.
Thousands of residents heard Miki’s warnings and fled to nearby hills. Video footage taken from those hills shows the tsunami unleashing destruction upon Minamisanriku but above the sound of devastation you can hear Miki’s voice clearly issuing instructions to residents as waves overwhelm the building she is in. Miki gave her life to save others and is credited for saving thousands.
The place we would like to focus
on in this article is the small town of Minamisanriku. This community of 17,000 people had around ten minutes to react before disaster struck, and sadly was one of the worst affected towns.
Miki Endo, a 25-year-old employee of the town’s Crisis Management
Sadly, 1,300 people were either killed