Japan earthquake and tsunami: a child's eye view

Ami and her mother are adjusting to life in snow-filled Yamagata - for both Ami and Sayaka, the snow has been one of the hardest parts to get used to. Ami has learnt to enjoy the snow, making snowmen and having snowball fights with her friends. Save the Children first met Ami in the weeks following the earthquake and tsunami that devastated their hometown of Ishinomaki, on the north eastern coast of Japan. Ami and her mother were living with hundreds of others in an evacuation centre, set up in a local school. Ami had been attending one of Save the Children’s Child-Friendly Spaces set up as a special place for children to go to while staying at the evacuation centres, where they could do and have fun, and get away from the stress and anxiety of the overwhelming change. Thinking back to the days after the earthquake and tsunami in Ishinomaki, Sayaka remembers the evacuation centre. "We all ate and slept in a school gymnasium, every day. At first, there was not enough aid, so sometimes we got hungry. But after, we got more than enough, and we really appreciated it. On top of the food, we were grateful for the play area that was made for children, and the people who were there to play with the children. The children would have been anxious without them." Without the support provided by Save the Children, Ami's mother says "the children would have stayed in the gymnasium the whole time. Of course, they would have played by themselves, but we wanted to have a place where the children could play more freely, with energy. We were very thankful." (Annie Bodmer-Roy/Save the Children)

On Sunday it will be exactly a year since the one of the most powerful earthquakes on record struck the north-east coast of Japan, triggering a massive tsunami.

The Japanese National Police Agency confirmed 15,850 deaths and thousands injured and missing. Up to 100,000 children were forced from their homes because of the disaster.

Children's charity Save The Children has been actively supporting families in the aftermath. They have put together a picture story about Ami, seven, and her experiences after she was separated from her mother.

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