March 11, 2011, was a day I shall never forget, a day when the people of Namie in northern Japan lost so much and endured so much. It was a quiet Friday afternoon when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. As a town official, I was attending a middle-school graduation ceremony during the morning. When, that afternoon, the ground shook violently in one of the largest quakes ever to hit our quake-prone country, I knew there was a strong risk of a tsunami and was relieved that all the children were evacuated safely to higher ground.
But for many in our town, the tragedy was unremitting. 181 of our friends and neighbours lost their lives as the 15-metre waves crashed ashore, engulfing all of the 600 homes along the coast. We continue to mourn for those who have perished. Even then our ordeal was not over. As the hours passed, we found out through television broadcasts that the nearby Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant was in trouble, and that evacuation warnings had been announced
From nuclear to hydrogen: How the town closest to Fukushima rose from disaster with a vision of renewable energy in only 10 years neweurope.eu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from neweurope.eu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.