December 21st – Nine years and nine months have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. The body of an elderly man whose whereabouts were unknown in the disaster was washed to the coast.
Recently, the police have just been identified. On the 21st, the family took the old man’s remains home.
According to a report by NHK TV station in Japan on the 21st, the old man’s name is Kiyoe Abe and he was 86 years old at the time of his death. At the time of the earthquake, Qingjiang was hospitalized at Xiongsheng Hospital in Shijuan City and was swept away by the tsunami. She was also killed by 64 patients and employees in the hospital.
Police said that the body of Qingjiang was found by the self-defense team in the waters near Jinhua Mountain in Miyagi Prefecture one month after the earthquake. The police only determined the identity of Qingjiang in mid-November this year by collecting information about people missing in the earthquake, comparing teeth, surgical traces, etc.
On the 21st, Akiko Abe, a relative of Qingjiang, collected the remains of the old man from the staff of the local office and said: “Expressing gratitude to everyone who has taken care of us, we can finally take the old man home.”
According to Japanese media, more than 1,200 people are still missing in Miyagi Prefecture during the East Japan earthquake, and the remains of six people have been delayed for identification. In the more than nine years since the earthquake, families who are looking for the remains of their loved ones have died.
Miyagi Prefecture police said: “We hope that the remaining remains will be returned to our families while their families are still alive, and we will continue to follow up the investigation.”
