Before the Great East Japan Earthquake, there were nine administrative districts in the Okawa area, with about 2,500 people living in 720 households. On March 11, 2011, a massive tsunami caused by a huge earthquake ran up the Kitakami River and hit Okawa Elementary School, which is located 3.7 kilometers inland from the sea, at a height of 8.6 meters. In the Okawa area, 416 people, including 74 elementary school students and 10 teachers, lost their lives.
The damaged school building has been maintained and opened to the public as a place of memorial and mourning, as well as a place to think about life. The existing facilities have been preserved with as little alteration as possible in order to show the actual damage caused by the tsunami and the importance of disaster preparedness and evacuation. The inside of the facility can be viewed from the outside, and a memorial monument and flower-offering stand have also been set up.
The adjacent Okawa Tsunami Memorial Museum has a multi-purpose space and displays materials that describe the situation from the moment of the earthquake to the arrival of the tsunami and show the damage suffered in the area.

Language available: English
* Some exhibits are in both Japanese and English.