Will I love Ghosts of the Tsunami?

There are many other books about the Japanese “triple disaster” (earthquake, tsunami, nuclear meltdown) of 2011, but none that engages so closely and with such resonance on the human element.

The author’s interviews with survivors allowed him to reconstruct events up to and beyond the devastation of Ishimaki City. Most poignant was the fate of students and teachers at Ogawa Elementary School, who drowned following mistaken advice to stay put in the face of the oncoming tsunami.

In places, the account was so painful it left me with tears in my eyes. Read it to learn from the tragedy and… show more.

Northern Japan was struck by one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in 2011, followed by a disastrous tsunami in which thousands died. Lloyd Parry spent years visiting and interviewing the survivors, bringing back riveting accounts of what it means to have your life shattered by such a catastrophe and to live among the debris. These include one man’s description of being swallowed alive by the giant wave then spat out into the house of a relative which reads like a modern myth.