NHK Documentary

A Hospital Once Stood by the Sea: 12 Years since the Tsunami

In the coastal town of Ogatsu, the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami destroyed a cherished local institution: the community hospital. As the tsunami approached, staff members stood by their bedridden patients, struggling to protect them. All the patients and many of the staff members perished. What was life like there before that fateful day? How are the surviving relatives coping 12 years later? Should the workers have saved themselves? We look into the hearts of the people left behind who spoke with the media for the first time.