1-23 First-Year Girl
On that fateful day, March 11th at 2:46 in the afternoon, I was in my year six classroom on the third floor of Osabe Elementary School listening to the teacher talking about plans for our graduation ceremony. It was then that the ground started rumbling. Everyone dived under their desks shouting "It's an earthquake!" After a little while the rumbling turned into an earthquake. The headmaster came running down the hallway telling each class to evacuate to the schoolyard.
The hallway was dark and gloomy, and there was smoke. We put handkerchiefs over our noses and bent down low as we made our way outside. Once outside we saw that the wall of our school had cracked in some places and that the statue of Ninomiya Kinjiro [1] had fallen down—only his feet remained on the pedestal.
We waited in the cracked schoolyard for people to come and pick us up. When nearly everyone had been met, I suddenly thought about my grandma and grandpa—were they ok? Or were they trapped beneath some toppled furniture? Is that why they hadn't come to pick me up yet?
I never want to experience the same terror as I did then ever again in my life.
1-23 中１女子
あの日、三月十一日午後二時四六分。わたしは、長部小学校の三階にある六年生教室で卒業式について担任の先生から話をされていました。
その時、地鳴りがなりました。皆が、「地震だ。」
といって机の下に潜り込みました。それから少し経って地鳴りが地震に変わりました。校長先生が廊下を走りながら、「校庭に避難して下さい。」と叫んでいました。
地震後の廊下は暗く、煙が立ち込めていました。私達はハンカチ等で口と鼻をおさえ、身体をかがめて外まで歩きました。外へ出て校舎の方を見ると、壁に亀裂が入り、二宮金次郎像が足だけを残し、倒れていました。私達は亀裂が入っている校庭で迎えを待っていました。ほとんどの人が帰ってしまった時に脳裏に浮かんだのは、じいとばあの事。「倒れた家具の下じきになっているのではないか。だから迎えに来れないのでは？」
と思ってしまったりもしました。
その時に感じた恐怖は二度と体験したくないと思いました。
1. Born into a poor farming family, Ninomiya Kinjiro famously became very wealthy and influential thanks to his grit and determination. He became a symbol of thrift and hard work and statues of him were placed in many elementary schools across Japan.
