(Notice) This time, we would like to introduce the new initiatives of the group companies that operate this site.
Marumori Town, located at the southern most region of Miyagi Prefecture, is a town with a population of about 15,000, next to to Fukushima Prefecture.▲Marumori Town surrounded by beautiful nature
Marumori Town is known as the place of the first battle of Date Masamune, the ruler of the Sendai region, and was once a region where the sericulture industry was thriving. Even now, mulberry leaves, which are indispensable for the sericulture industry, are known as a special product and is gaining popularity for its high nutritional values.
▲State of Mulberry Leaf Field
When the sericulture industry was flourishing, rats infested the fields and became the enemy of the sericulture. They cherished the cats that were used to exterminate the rats, and worshiped them as a “cat god”. As a remnant of that, many stone monuments with embossed cat shapes, stone statues, and those with carved letters have been discovered. A total of 73 stone monuments and 7 stone statues have been confirmed, but the number is increasing every year.
In the city, there are souvenirs and restaurants with the theme of the cat god, and it is a recommended town for cat lovers!▲Cat Shaped Stone Monument
In Marumori Town, where agriculture is now becoming a major industry, there are various special products such as Heso-daikon and winter seasonal product Anpo-gaki.
Please take a look at MARUPHORIA, which is a collection of many good features of Marumori Town!▲The production of Anpo-gaki, a traditional winter food in Marumori Town
Damaged by the typhoon
Marumori Town is rich in nature, but due to the impact of Typhoon No. 19 that occurred in October 2019, the Abukuma River that flows through the town was flooded, and the entire town was flooded for more than a week.
▲The State of the Flood in Marumori Town
The offices of Marumori Town Regional Trading Company GM7, which was in charge of creating this tour, and Miyagi Inbound DMO, which operates a tourism inbound business in Minami Miyagi, were also damaged by flooding of about 1 meter high. Immediately after the typhoon damage, many volunteers from Japan and abroad came to clean up the damage.
▲All of the employees and volunteers
It is said that GM7 Co. Ltd. and Miyagi Inbound DMO created this Marumori Town Education and Disaster Prevention Tour while learning from many people in the area about what happened from the flood damage in Marumori and the reconstruction process.
About Marumori Disaster Prevention Education Tour
On the tour, you can learn valuable lessons for your daily disaster prevention while visiting the areas in Marumori Town where typhoon scars still remain.
The photo below is a flooded Marumori Municipal House.
It has become a vacant house where no one lives now. You can learn how high it was flooded at the time and how people who lived in this area saved their own lives from the flood.
▲Vacant house after flood damage
If you move away from the center of Marumori Town and go to the mountain side, the restoration work is still not enough. The vivid scratches of the damage caused by the sediment disaster remain, so you can directly see the magnitude of the damage.
In particular, it is the camp site Fudosan Park Campground in Marumori Town. There are places where driftwood still remains when the river rises, and places where you can see the bridge has collapsed, so you can see the horrifying power of water.▲Damage in the Marumori Town Fudosan Park Campground
The Fudosan Park Campground itself has resumed operations since December 2019, and many people enjoyed BBQ and camping in the restored campsite.
The Gofukuya area was the most damaged area in Marumori Town.
By listening to the story of the person who guided the evacuation on the day of the disaster, you can learn what kind of preparations are important to be prepared on a daily basis and the execution of the evacuation process. You can learn directly from the story of the experiencer.
Aiming for Reconstruction
The Marumori Town Hall has established a five-year recovery plan from a typhoon, and is proceeding with reconstruction efforts such as repairing roads damaged by sediment-related disasters and restoring embankments.
The Marumori-cho taiko group “Tabi Taiko” formed by members belonging to the local trading company GM7 performed a taiko performance at the requiem festival held one year after the typhoon struck. The taiko performance was broadcasted live on Youtube, which encouraged many people.
▲Tabi Taiko performance
In addition, based on the lessons learned about disaster prevention, the regional trading company GM7 has developed a stockpile of food called “disaster prevention rice balls”. Onigiri made with alpha rice is an emergency food that you can easily make just by adding water even there are few supplies due to an emergency.
Those who have participated in this disaster prevention education tour will also receive a rice ball (Onigiri).▲Disaster prevention rice balls that are very popular as emergency food
The introduction was only a part of the tour, but we are waiting for you to learn about disaster prevention while looking at the actual location, so please come and visit us!
Guide to teach the lessons of Typhoon No. 19
Time required | About 2 hours |
Price | 15,000 Yen |
Meeting Location | Hachiokan |
Regular Days Closed | Unplanned operating hours |
Number of participants | Up to 10(Consultation required for 11 or more people) |
Supported Language | Japanese, English, Chinese |
Contact: | info@gm7.jp |
Finally
Despite being damaged by the flood, you can receive a lot of courage from the appearance of people trying to move forward from it! It will be after the coronavirus has converged, but why not visit Marumori Town and take part in this tour to deepen your learning about disaster prevention?
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