Hometown Stories

Revealing the Final Moments (2020x6)

Air date: Mar 14, 2020

In the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the town of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture lost 30% of its civil servants, the highest proportion for any affected municipality. The local government was blasted for its handling of the crisis, and bereaved families were left with painful questions. For a long time, most employees who lived through that day remained silent. Then, the town publishes a record of the disaster that includes first-hand accounts by surviving workers. For a community struggling to find closure, this could be a turning point.