The natural disaster of March 11, 2011 left over 400 kilometers of the Tohoku coastline devastated. Thousands of lives and livelihoods connected to the seas were lost to the ocean. The ocean that brought devastation to the shores destroyed over 300 fishing ports, swept away hundreds of processing plants, market places, homes and all lifelines to outside world is also the source of life that has sustained these communities for generations. The duality of nature is something coastal people of Tohoku understand. Living with natural disasters, enduring devastation, rebuilding in the aftermath, relying on the resources of the ocean for sustenance, never severing the link between the ocean and life on land, is cyclical through time and has been passed down through the generations. How to rebuild from this once in a thousand year scale of natural disaster though is something none were prepared for, nor have the answers for, yet.

 

Standing Strong-Kesennuma

The natural disaster of March 11, 2011 left over 400 kilometers of the Tohoku coastline devastated. Thousands of lives and livelihoods connected to the seas were lost to the ocean. The ocean that brought devastation to the shores destroyed over 300 fishing ports, swept away hundreds of processing plants, market places, homes and all lifelines to outside world is also the source of life that has sustained these communities for generations. The duality of nature is something coastal people of Tohoku understand. Living with natural disasters, enduring devastation, rebuilding in the aftermath, relying on the resources of the ocean for sustenance, never severing the link between the ocean and life on land, is cyclical through time and has been passed down through the generations. How to rebuild from this once in a thousand year scale of natural disaster though is something none were prepared for, nor have the answers for, yet.