Bereaved Gather In Atami One Year After Deadly Mudslides
Bereaved families and local officials gathered to pay tribute to victims of mudslides one year ago in the seaside city of Atami.
A memorial service at an elementary school in the Shizuoka prefecture city on Sunday drew about 80 people and offered silent prayers.
Atami Mayor Saito Sakae delivered a speech and offered condolences to those who lost their loved ones in mudslides that led to the deaths of 27 people.
He said the city will pass on lessons from the disaster to future generations and will commit to rebuilding efforts so that affected people can restore peaceful daily lives as soon as possible.
A woman who lost her 44-year-old daughter in the disaster tearfully said she remains unable to accept her death even now.
Also on Sunday, about 200 people, including police officers, Japan Coast Guard officials, and divers, gathered in Izusan port, where mudslides had flowed in last year after rushing down a river.
They offered silent prayers and then began a search operation involving five ships and 15 divers for a woman who remains unaccounted for.
Meanwhile, some bereaved families on Sunday said they plan to file a lawsuit by the end of August to demand that the Atami city government and the Shizuoka prefectural government pay damages.
A panel investigating the disaster concluded in its final report in May that the prefecture and the city failed to cooperate effectively in dealing with a soil mound where the massive mudslides originated.