Kyoma Takahashi was a 16-year-old student when the quake hit his hometown of Ishinomaki, in Miyagi prefecture on Japan's main island of Honshu.
“When the earthquake hit, I was outside the prefecture to attend school," he says. "I was separated from the rest of my family and there was no way to confirm their safety. I had to go through this excruciating time filled with fear of being left alone.”
He was later told that he'd lost both his grandmother and grandfather in the tsunami.
"It was like a TV or a film, people can lose their lives so easily," he said.
The tsunami breeches an embankment in the city of Miyako in Iwate prefecture shortly after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit the region of northern Japan. (Getty) Source: Getty
The Great East Japan Earthquake
The quake struck approximately 130 kilometres east of the city of Sendai at a relatively shallow depth of 30 kilometres on the floor of the western Pacific Ocean.
A massive tsunami was triggered by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake which also caused widespread destruction on land.
The tsunami inundated over 500,000 square kilometres of land. More than 15,000 people died, 492,000 were evacuated, and over 16,000 were reported missing.
Images broadcast around the world in near real-time showed tens of thousands of homes and buildings destroyed.
A ship sits in a destroyed residential neighborhood in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, March 28th, 2011. Source: AAP
The tsunami also went on to instigate a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant further south along the coast, where water flooded the reactors sparking a radiation leak and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
Kyoma Takahashi came to Sydney in search of a safe place outside Japan.
He arrived in Australia three years ago and hopes to bring his family to the city, which is virtually earthquake-free, in the future.
Kyoma Takahashi was 16 when the earthquake and tsunami hit his home town in Japan. Source: SBS
“I really don’t want my mother to end her life in a disruptive manner (like his grandmother). In terms of natural disasters, I think that Japan is dangerous. I don’t want to see any more deaths which is not the fault of anyone. I never want to feel that powerless again,” he told SBS Japanese.
“If I hadn’t experienced the disaster, I might have not come here”.
Sydney - a safe place to recuperate
Misaki Ito believes that her volunteering work at the disaster zone changed her life. Then a 19-year-old university student, she visited affected areas in Japan soon after the quake and tsunami to offer support.
“People I met at the disaster zone kept telling me to do what I want to do, while I can. They taught me the importance of living life to the fullest.
"If I didn’t go there, I wouldn’t have come to Sydney to learn English. That was a big decision for me,” she said.
Both Misaki and Kyoma are now part of the Japan Club of Sydney (JCS)’s Rainbow Project, a charity program run by Sydney's Japanese community.
As a 19-year-old student Misaki Ito visited affected areas in Japan to volunteer in the aftermath of the quake and tsunami. Source: SBS
The project started in 2011 as respite care to invite children from the affected areas and offer them a safe, radiation-free place to rest and play. As time passed, the aim of the project shifted from caring for children to fostering young leaders in the affected region.
The Japanese community will hold the 10th memorial event in Sydney on Thursday - the day marking the anniversary. Australian rescue teams who participated in search and rescue efforts at the time are also due to attend the event.
Children from Fukushima visited Sydney in 2014 as part of a charity annual program 'JCS Rainbow Project', which was run by the Japanese community in Sydney. Source: JCS Rainbow Project
In Tokyo, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will hold a minute's silence in the National Theatre and is asking the public to do the same "in memory of the souls of the victims, that they rest in peace."
“Even though the disaster happened outside Australia, Australian people showed how much they care about us. I appreciate it”, Mr Takahashi said.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard visited the disaster zone in April 2011. It was the first visit by a foreign leader and was covered extensively by the Japanese media. Minamisanriku town, Miyagi prefecture, April 23rd, 2011. Source: AAP
Japanese residents still stranded 10 years on
Ten years on, there are still more than 20,000 people living in temporary housing. Many of them are from Fukushima, where the nuclear disaster occurred.
Dr Hitomi Nakanishi, a Japanese expert on disaster management and associate professor at the University of Canberra, thinks that rebuilding efforts can not be completed until those who live in temporary housing are found homes.
“I visited the affected area in 2019. I couldn’t last year. Major infrastructure has already been rebuilt but I must say it will take much longer for the survivors to recover from their mental damages,” Dr Nakanishi said.
More than 2000 candles with messages are displayed to mark the 10th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Tokyo. Source: AAP
“Looking at the next 10 years from now, the big challenges will be their mental health and how we can learn from the disaster and mitigate future risks.”
“Not just earthquakes, disaster strikes when you least expect it. We need to listen to the survivors and prepare for the next one, together.”
The event staff for charity event called JCS Rainbow Project, run by the Japanese community in Sydney to support children and young people in Fukushima, Japan. Source: JCS Rainbow Project
