スクリプトは事前提出されたものですので、ビデオの音声とは異なる場合があります。

The Great Nature

Nishimura Ryosuke (Ichinoseki National College of Technology)

"A natural disaster strikes when people lose their memory of the previous one. You always should be prepared for a disaster as no one can expect when it happens." Many people have been given such warnings from the past. However, most people had forgot the lesson. I was one of them. On that day, the disaster changed my mind. Furthermore, it changed my life.

I was born in Kamaishi, a coastal city in Iwate prefecture. I had lived there for 15 years until I entered our college of technology. I had been loved Kamaishi, and the beautiful sea. My home used to be located near by the sea. My life always had been with the sea. The sea was a part of my life. I had never imagined such a close being would destroy everything. This illusion was created on some reasons. My hometown Kamaishi had been attacked by Tsunami so many times from ancient time, and every citizen had known the fact. When I was in elementary school, I heard some lectures of elder people who experienced Tsunami in Showa period. They told us how terrible it was, but it sounded like a fiction for me. Another reason. Last year, I boarded a sightseeing ship and went on a cruise around Kamaishi bay. On the way of the cruise, I saw the Tsunami breakwater. It was the biggest breakwater in the world. Seeing the huge breakwater, I thought Kamaishi will be safe even if Tsunami hit there next time. I, and everyone underestimated the power of the great nature.

On March 9, two days before the disaster, a strong earthquake hit around Iwate. I was at home in Kamaishi as I was in the spring vacation. Tsunami warning was issued, but I didn’t leave my home because I thought I was safe. As I observed the sea from the window, the rise of the tide was only 50cm high. But, at last, the day came. In miracle, I wasn’t in Kamaishi that day. Fortunately, I was supposed come to our college. I left Kamaishi early in the morning with my mother and then I encountered the huge earthquake at my school. As soon as I felt the quake, I got out from the building. The ground was literally waving. I felt helpless against the great nature. As time passes, I received terrible news through the broadcast and the Internet. I watched image of Tsunami for the first time, the next morning. I watched white water rushed into Kamaishi city to destroy everything. I couldn’t believe the scene, and I didn’t want to believe it. There was no doubt that my house had washed away. I spent many days with serious and unshaped worry. After all, I spent three nights at lecture a hall of my school ,a week at my instructor’s residence, and then moved to current residence in Ichinoseki with my mother. My first return to Kamaishi was almost a month after the disaster. Kamaishi I saw was not the same as it used to be. Everything around my home was washed away. It was like a scene of a movie. However, only the sea was not changed at all. It was beautiful. It was as beautiful as it used to be. I felt the power and the beauty of the great nature. I could not hold a grudge against the nature. Then, I promised to myself that I never be defeated by the disaster.

Now, I tell you as a living witness. A natural disaster strikes when people lose their memory of the previous one, when people lose the respect for the great nature. We should keep them in our mind and we always should be prepared for a disaster as no one can expect when it happens. And, I have another message for you. For victims, the disaster is not a 'past’. It is still 'present’ even for now. Please do not forget about the disaster, the power of the great nature. Do not waste our experience.

Half a year later from the disaster, I have passed the exam for an university which I had dreamed to go on. In next April, I will go on to the university and pursue studies about life science in Sendai. I want to disseminate world-class studies from Tohoku to encourage victims in Tohoku as one of the victims. I’d like to be an international researcher with the memory of experiences in 2011, and the respect for the great nature.