Japanese Public Worker's Heroic Final Moments - Stayed at post to warn residents

[RamboLiberal]

Miki Endo, a 25-year-old public worker, saved thousands of lives in Minami Sanriku, one of the Japanese cities hardest hit by the tsunami.

A circulating video clip lasts only 10 seconds, but it features the repeated warning calls from Endo's post -- "run away fast" -- as she alerts villagers of the coming disaster. Some 10,000 residents of Minami Sanriku were killed, but thanks to this worker's heroic efforts, thousands more were able to escape.

Miki Endo, a 25-year-old public worker, saved thousands of lives in Minami Sanriku, one of the Japanese cities hardest hit by the tsunami.

The Japanese publication Mainichi Shimbun reported that Endo did not let go of her microphone even as the tsunami engulfed the city. The photograph used in the video shows the remains of her post as it currently stands.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/japanese-public-workers-h_n_845029.html

[suffragette]

1. K&R

[Arugula Latte]

2. ...

What bravery...and only 25. :cry:

[uppityperson]

3. RIP Miki Endo, you did good

[Very_Boring_Name]

4. Question... was it not possible to have it set to broadcast on a loop?

It doesn't specify what her post was exactly, but if it was some sort of emergency notification center, you'd think that it would have been possible to set it to repeatedly broadcast on a loop, so that the workers could escape safely.

[Art_from_Ark]

9. I think it was probable they had a loop broadcast

However, this area is also prone to "tsunamis", which, by the Japanese definition, are sea waves that are generated by off-shore earthquakes or undersea eruptions. There are often tsunami warnings in that part of Japan, but in most cases the tsunami turns out to be less than a couple of feet in height. So tsunami warnings are often ignored by people on land. Having a live human voice to make the announcements probably had the effect of convincing residents that this time, there was imminent danger.

[lonestarnot]

5. Poor thing.

[Maru Kitteh]

6. What an amazingly brave human being. Maybe they will name a school for her, or a park.

Unimaginable courage.

[crickets]

7. Haunting. -nt

[Art_from_Ark]

8. Here's a picture of this brave woman from last year

smiling as she holds up her marriage certificate



RIP, Miki Endo 遠藤未希

[Art_from_Ark]

10. More about Miki Endo

She was not merely a public worker-- she was one of the staff of the Crisis Management Department of the Minami Sanriku City Hall. She obviously took her job very seriously. She and several other staff were in the 3-story Disaster Prevention Annex. Apparently the people in the building fled to the roof, where they ended up clinging to a wireless transmission tower. It is not clear whether Miki was among them. Ultimately, ten of those people survived. Miki Endo didn't. "I saw her being swept away", said one of the surviving staff.

Among the survivors of the disaster was Miki's mother, who had fled to a shelter at a local high school. Later, she met a family friend who had also made it to the shelter. "I heard your daughter the whole way coming up here", said the friend, as she took Miki's mother by the hand.

http://kamome.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/koumu/1300336253/

[Art_from_Ark]

11. Mrs. Haga (Endo family friend)'s account of the evacuation

"I heard Miki's voice announcing, "There's a 6-meter high tsunami coming. Please hurry and get away." So with just my cell phone and the clothes on my back, I headed in my car to Shitsugawa High School which was on high ground. Because the electric power was out, the traffic signals were not working, and there were traffic jams in all the surrounding roads. When I made it to the higher ground, I turned around and saw a long line of cars with horns honking, and they were being chased by the tsunami, which was knocking down houses and other things in its path".

Out of fear, Mrs. Haga stepped on the accelerator and escaped to high ground several tens of meters high, then got out of the car and walked up the steps to the shelter.

http://kamome.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/koumu/1300336253/