Japan's double disaster (Photo: nationalgeographic.com)

 The Japanese government and people have been working to repair the devastated area 500 km north-east of Tokyo. Rikuzen Takata was one of the cities with the highest death toll.  Two years ago, there were no houses, just a few vehicles along the destroyed city’s beach front. Now, it has become a busy workplace. The city is full of trucks, graders, and excavators and new factories signaling a revival of life. Sato, a mushroom growing company, was among the first to resume operation here. The 2011 tsunami swept away the company’s headquarters and all its property. Hirofumi Sato is the company’s director:“Finally, we have completed the cleanup work. Several fields have been restored. Some production facilities have resumed operation. Some hotels have recently re-opened. Our Rikuzen Takata city is reviving step by step”.
The municipal authorities are building a conveyor belt to move the rubble and raise the foundation of the city. The belt is named “The bridge of hope”. The "miracle pine” is another symbol of hope for the city. It is the only pine tree of the 70000- tree littoral forest to have survived the disaster.