Rikuzentakata, Iwate
Rikuzentakata (Japanese陆 前 高田 市, -shi ) is a city in Iwate Prefecture on Honshu, the main island of Japan.
Geography
Rikuzentakata is located south of Morioka and north of Sendai on the Pacific Ocean.
By the Tohoku earthquake of 11 March 2011 was near the coast of the brackish - numa Furukawa (古 川 沼), but washed away the sand bank separating from triggered by the earthquake tsunami and the lake so that was part of the coastal waters.
History
The city of Rikuzentakata was founded on January 1, 1955 from the former municipalities Takata, Kesen, Hirota, Otomo, Yonesaki, Yahagi, Take coma and Yokota. The name component Rikuzen refers to the province Rikuzen, which was during the Meiji period here.
When the tsunami of 11 March 2011, the town belonged to one of the worst affected areas, with the urban area to 80%, ie about 5000 households, was flooded. May 20, 1492 dead and 699 missing persons were reported.
A single pine - formerly of around 70,000 pine trees - survived the tsunami and was alone in a two- kilometer stretch of coastline. As a " miracle pine " (奇跡 の 松, kiseki no matsu ) it became a symbol of reconstruction. The pine was a 2012, as was covered due to the subsidence of the ground on which they stood with seawater.
Traffic
- Train: JR Ofunato Line
Sons and daughters of the town
- Naoya Hatakeyama (* 1958), art photographer
Adjacent Cities and Towns
- Iwate Prefecture Ichinoseki
- Ofunato
- Sumita
- Kesennuma
Gallery
Aerial view of the devastation, April 2011
Rice fields