The day the tsunami strikes

That day I was working in a two-story office building beside the sea. We had planned an event near the beach in that office, and it was just about to begin. As everyone was running around getting ready, we suddenly received a tsunami warning. We said to ourselves, “What? A tsunami is coming?” We felt a minor earthquake just a few minutes earlier, but there was no way that an earthquake this small could cause a tsunami. However, as I looked out to sea, the water level did indeed seem to be growing a little bit bigger in the distance.

“Well, good days and bad days happen,” I thought to myself. We continued preparing for the event without caring about the tsunami warnings, but water started coming in under the floor. It made me anxious for a moment, but still no one thought that it would be a big tsunami, and we kept on working without evacuating. The event was about to start and still we thought we didn’t need to evacuate.

Suddenly, I could feel water splashing under my feet. Something I had never thought would happen now became a reality. Then in the blink of an eye, the water rose past my feet. It then dawned on me that this was a real tsunami. The water was now gushing in from under the staircase at great speed like a muddy river... “Oh crap!” I flew up the stairs, but just as I thought that only my feet were under water, the water rose up to the ceiling of the second floor in an instant, and there was a terrifying moment when the water swallowed me up.

Furthermore, I noticed that my important key had slipped out of my hand into the water when I was running up the stairs. “I can’t lose this key!” I said to myself. - I didn’t hesitate to dive into the water and I barely found the key.

But after I dove into the water, I had to come to the surface to breathe. The entire building, from the first to the second floor, must have already been flooded by the tsunami. I didn’t know if there was any space above the second floor. If not, I knew that I was going to die. I didn’t want to die yet. I had to get out of the water to live. I could just hear a voice in my head yelling, “Go upstairs!” “Run to higher ground!”

On June 18, 2022, at 4 in the morning in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, I had a nightmare where I was swallowed by the tsunami and confronted death. While I was writing this article at Seapal-Pier Onagawa, a tsunami evacuation announcement was made in the building. It was the first time I had heard one. It said, “In case of emergency, please evacuate.” Never be too sure of yourself. Messages from the tsunami survivors were not only there, but the feelings of the victims are also embedded in the land of Onagawa. I can hear their voices...

Opening a business in Onagawa entails contributing to the development of the town while also carrying the sorrow of the people from Onagawa on your shoulders. Will I ever be able to handle this heavy responsibility? I have no choice but to keep running to higher ground before the tsunami strikes into my heart.