Tsunami hit more than 100 designated evacuation sites [View All]

[AsahinaKimi]

No safe haven: Koganji Temple in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, lies in ruins after being devastated by a tsunami on March 11. The temple had been designated as an evacuation site, but it was not far enough from the coast to escape the powerful waves

KYODO NEWS/JAPAN TIMES

More than 100 evacuation sites designated by local governments were swept away or inundated by the tsunami triggered by the March 11 earthquake just off the Tohoku region's coast, according to a tally compiled by Kyodo News.

Many people are thought to have lost their lives after fleeing to those sites, believing they would be safe, but no data have so far been collected on the death toll at those places.

There have been no moves so far among citizens to hold local governments responsible for designating those sites, apparently because the scale of the tsunami was beyond what had been foreseen.

But calls will likely grow for a review of locations of evacuation sites along coastal regions. Municipalities throughout the country had picked around 70,000 such sites as of April 1, 2008, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

At least 101 designated sites were hit by the disaster in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, the three Pacific coast prefectures struck hardest by the gigantic waves after the quake, according to the tally.

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