A generation lost
Posted on April 22, 2011
Filed Under relief & aid | Leave a Comment
Okawa elementary school began classes on April 21st after having lost 70% of its students to the tsunami and earthquake that ravaged north eastern Japan on March 11th. The school is renting space for its students from a neighboring school as the facilities at the Okawa school are unusable. With the government trying to raise the declining birthrate in Japan in order to shore up the future, and the tendency for the young to move away from the rural areas to seek jobs and opportunities in the larger cities, this decimation of the next generation will be felt long after the buildings and roads are rebuilt here.
It was not only the young that was particularly hard hit by the earthquake and tsunami, it was reported that over half of the victims that died in the disaster were over 65 years old. With the wisdom of the aged and the vitality of the young gone in an instant, the Tohoku region faces a long road indeed.
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