Photo/Illutration When the tsunami hit on March 11, 2011, 90 people, including students, escaped to the attic of Nakahama Elementary School in Yamamoto, Miyagi Prefecture. This photo was taken on Sept. 26. (Shigetaka Kodama)

YAMAMOTO, Miyagi Prefecture--A striking memorial has opened at a battered local school that became refuge to 90 people from the deadly tsunami caused by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

The former Nakahama Elementary School opened to the public as a memorial on Sept. 26, with the wreckage left in place, serving as a powerful reminder to the destructive power of nature and the importance of emergency preparedness.

School Principal Takeshi Inoue, 63, directed the 90 students, teachers and others to escape into the school’s rooftop attic as the tsunami approached, saving their lives.

“Standing on this rooftop can remind us of how people felt at the time of that disaster,” Inoue said at the opening ceremony, which was attended by students, teachers and members of the public. “We can also think about what we should prepare for.”

The two-story school is located about 400 meters from the coastline. When the tsunami struck on March 11, 2011, the school was inundated nearly up to the second floor's ceiling, which was about 10 meters above ground level.

Kana Nemoto, 21, was a fifth-grader at the school when the disaster struck.

“At that time, I could not see the attic very well in the dark, but now I can see it clearly," she said. "And what I want to say is, 'thank you.'”

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