NHK documentary ‘Buried Voices’ resonates
The stories of women who were sexually assaulted in shelters during the Great East Japan Earthquake 10 years ago have been revealed to the world.
On the 11th, Japan’s NHK broadcast the documentary ‘Buried voices’ to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The documentary covered the sexual assault victims of women living in three prefectures, including Fukushima and Iwatemiyagi, which were most severely affected by the earthquake.
On March 11, 2011, at approximately 2:46 p.m., a massive earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred off the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Sanriku, Japan. An unprecedented ‘triple disaster’ occurred, with an earthquake leading to a tsunami and a nuclear power plant explosion, and the wounds of the disaster have not healed even after 10 years.
Ten years ago, residents of the affected areas who had become refugees flocked to shelters. The shelter, which had no partitions, consisted of blankets spread out in a huge auditorium.
During the war-like chaos, terrible things happened in the shelter. According to NHK, the woman who lost her husband in the earthquake said, “The shelter director said, ‘It’s a big deal because her husband is not there. “She said, ‘I’ll give you towels and food, so she can come at night,’ and he blatantly forced her to have sex,” she said.
Also, a woman in her 20s at the time said, “The men in the shelter became increasingly strange. At night, men would come into the blankets women were lying on, and other times, they would grab women and take them to dark places and take off their clothes.” In response, the people around them stated, “They pretended not to see it, saying, ‘They are too young to help.’”
The third woman interviewed confessed that she had been abused by several men. He said, “She was scared that if she reported the damage, she would be killed,” and “I felt like even if I died, they would blame it on the tsunami and no one would look for me.”
The women who gave statements claimed that sexual assaults occurred every day at the shelter.
‘Companion Hotline’, a women-only counseling line, announced the results of an analysis of 360,000 counseling cases received between 2013 and 2018 in February last year. As a result of the analysis, more than 50% of counseling in the three prefectures affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake was about sexual violence damage. In particular, about 40% of the victims were young women in their teens and 20s.
Tomoko Endo, Secretary General of the 24 Hour Hotline, said, “The anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster revives the memories of the victims and reminds them of their experience of being sexually assaulted 10 years ago. As we have learned from the 2011 disaster, we will provide support such as telephone counseling.” “We must prevent women and children from becoming victims of a ‘second disaster,’” he emphasized.
“Sexual assault in shelters every night” Atrocities exposed 10 years after the Great Japan Earthquake
The stories of women who were sexually assaulted in shelters during the Great East Japan Earthquake 10 years ago have been revealed to the world. On the 11th, Japan’s NHK broadcast the documentary ‘Buried voices’ to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The documentary covered the sexual assault victims of women living in three prefectures, including Fukushima and Iwatemiyagi, which were most severely affected by the earthquake. March 2011
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