This chapter contains many real facts about the tsunami. It required a lot of research, but I managed to get it done.
The bubbles containing Grandpa's last words tailed Kiku all the way to the surface. As his head came above the water, the bubbles reached his ears and he heard what his beloved grandpa had spoken. An intense feeling of guilt overwhelmed him. He was tempted to go back for his grandpa, but the words stopped him. He knew that that was not what the old fisherman wished him to do.
The tsunami was rapidly approaching the seawall around Minamisanriku. Inside the village, at the local Crisis Management Department building, a young woman named Miki Endo was warning everyone to evacuate through a loudspeaker. She knew that she wouldn't survive if she stayed here and kept it up, but there were lives to be saved. She couldn't give up now.
The wave, carrying little Kiku, was 30 meters away from the seawall…20...10...BOOM! The force of the waves was as good as a wrecking ball against the seawall. The structure was built to withstand waves of up to 5.5 meters, but these monstrous waves were more than 16 meters high. They easily demolished the seawall and poured over the top. When he was slammed against the seawall, poor Kiku heard something snap. The pain was unbearable, and he blacked out.
The water continued to do its work, carving a path of destruction through the town. The elderly could not have evacuated so fast; they did not stand a chance. Most of the townfolk were still huddled in their homes, scared out of their wits. Some had heeded Miki Endo's warnings to evacuate and headed to evacuation centers located on higher grounds. The torrent gushed into houses, blowing them apart from the inside and then crushing them like ants from the top.
The town mayor, Jin Sato, was at a meeting at the town hall when the waves crashed in. He managed to escape to the three-story Crisis Management Department building and make it to the roof before he was submerged in the torrent for a full three minutes. However, even three stories was not enough to avoid the wrath of the tsunami. Miki Endo was heroic up until the last second of her life, shouting her lungs out for everyone to hear her. Then the waves swallowed her up and her announcements were abruptly cut off.
Only thirty people reached the roof of the Crisis Management Department building. Only ten of those thirty survived.
The Shizugawa hospital held against the onslaught, but not without some damage. 74 out of its 109 patients died during the ordeal.
It was March 11, 2011. The day that Minamisanriku was wiped out of existence.