It's not about doing their duty anymore... it's more about doing the right thing for their friends, family, neighbours and community.
It's about doing what they know they would want, if they were in the same boat. They wan to provide a measure of dignity and respect.
They want to provide closure.
Friday, November 11, 2011 is Rememberance Day here in Canada... a solemn day when we reflect and honour the dead who bravely fought for the freedom of others. It's also the eight-month anniversary of the day a tsunami spawned by a massive earthquake nearly wiped out the entire northeast coast of Japan.
A tsunami of varying heights... perhaps as high as 75-feet. Try and find an accurate height. Evidence is conflicting, though a Wikipedia entry suggest that Miyako-shi (Miyako City) in Iwate-ken (Iwate Prefecture) was as high as 133-feet (40.5 meters). Regardless... the tsunami, however, that claimed just under 20,000 lives.
Think of the pain of losing a loved one. Now imagine how much pain you could feel if an entire town was killed. It boggles the imagination. You and I can't even begin to guess what that feels like.
Now, with winter just around the corner, and the temperatures in the northeast section of Japan dropping everyday, police in Fukushima-ken (Fukushima Prefecture) Iwate-ken and Miyagi-ken (Miyagi Prefecture) continue the search for those missing and presumed dead, for no other reason than to return the bodies to their families.
Even now, some 1,800 police officers from other prefectures have been sent to the disaster areas to help local police continue the search for the missing, as well as to help with other day-to-day police duties.
And, despite the length of time, bodies are still being uncovered... they hope.
The March 11 disaster claimed the lives of 802 people in Otsuchicho, Iwate-ken, but along with the confirmed dead, there are still 520 people missing.
October was the first month since March 11, 2011 in which no autopsies of disaster victims were conducted in Iwate-ken.
"My daughter, who was born in January, doesn't really remember me," explains assistant police inspector Kojima Takuya (surname first) (36-years-old) on his 10th search for bodies. "That's nothing, though, when we think of the feelings of survivors trying to find the remains of their loved ones."
Dropping temperatures in the sea also are hindering search efforts. On November 8, 2011, 20 Miyagi-ken police officers searched the Kirigasaki district of Onagawacho, with five officers taking a chartered fishing boat to search an area about 50 meters off the coast. They placed a camera mounted to a robot into the waters.
"It's frustrating," states assistant police inspector Sato Kei (45) and group leader. "But we won't give up. We'll keep searching."
As of November 11, 2011, about 5,400 police officers in Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi were either searching for bodies or continuing to do tsunami-damaged-related duties, like directing traffic where the traffic lights had been washed away.
According to the National Police Agency, the search for the missing continues primarily along coastal areas, but the four bodies discovered so far this month were found in the ocean by such people as fishermen, not the police.
However, despite finding bodies, identifying them is proving to be a difficult task, despite DNA analysis, as some 800 bodies still remain unidentified.
Files by Andrew Joseph
It's about doing what they know they would want, if they were in the same boat. They wan to provide a measure of dignity and respect.
They want to provide closure.
Friday, November 11, 2011 is Rememberance Day here in Canada... a solemn day when we reflect and honour the dead who bravely fought for the freedom of others. It's also the eight-month anniversary of the day a tsunami spawned by a massive earthquake nearly wiped out the entire northeast coast of Japan.
A tsunami of varying heights... perhaps as high as 75-feet. Try and find an accurate height. Evidence is conflicting, though a Wikipedia entry suggest that Miyako-shi (Miyako City) in Iwate-ken (Iwate Prefecture) was as high as 133-feet (40.5 meters). Regardless... the tsunami, however, that claimed just under 20,000 lives.
Think of the pain of losing a loved one. Now imagine how much pain you could feel if an entire town was killed. It boggles the imagination. You and I can't even begin to guess what that feels like.
Now, with winter just around the corner, and the temperatures in the northeast section of Japan dropping everyday, police in Fukushima-ken (Fukushima Prefecture) Iwate-ken and Miyagi-ken (Miyagi Prefecture) continue the search for those missing and presumed dead, for no other reason than to return the bodies to their families.
Even now, some 1,800 police officers from other prefectures have been sent to the disaster areas to help local police continue the search for the missing, as well as to help with other day-to-day police duties.
And, despite the length of time, bodies are still being uncovered... they hope.
The March 11 disaster claimed the lives of 802 people in Otsuchicho, Iwate-ken, but along with the confirmed dead, there are still 520 people missing.
October was the first month since March 11, 2011 in which no autopsies of disaster victims were conducted in Iwate-ken.
"My daughter, who was born in January, doesn't really remember me," explains assistant police inspector Kojima Takuya (surname first) (36-years-old) on his 10th search for bodies. "That's nothing, though, when we think of the feelings of survivors trying to find the remains of their loved ones."
Dropping temperatures in the sea also are hindering search efforts. On November 8, 2011, 20 Miyagi-ken police officers searched the Kirigasaki district of Onagawacho, with five officers taking a chartered fishing boat to search an area about 50 meters off the coast. They placed a camera mounted to a robot into the waters.
"It's frustrating," states assistant police inspector Sato Kei (45) and group leader. "But we won't give up. We'll keep searching."
As of November 11, 2011, about 5,400 police officers in Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi were either searching for bodies or continuing to do tsunami-damaged-related duties, like directing traffic where the traffic lights had been washed away.
According to the National Police Agency, the search for the missing continues primarily along coastal areas, but the four bodies discovered so far this month were found in the ocean by such people as fishermen, not the police.
However, despite finding bodies, identifying them is proving to be a difficult task, despite DNA analysis, as some 800 bodies still remain unidentified.
Files by Andrew Joseph
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