Tsunami took all I had, but I cannot forsake the area

(by Ms. Yoko Hakozaki, evacuee from Isobe area, at General Welfare Center in Souma City, Fukushima Prefecture )

We were a farming family, but we lost all the fields to the tsunami. They were submerged by saltwater, and I don’t know what to do at all. The rice we stored for one year was damaged as well. We cannot grow rice in this area, but I want to live in Isobe area. After all I’ve lived here for decades, so I cannot leave this area. 


Victims’ Voice aired on NHK, April 7, 2011
Translated by Makiko Tajima Asano