The remains of a six-year-old Japanese girl who went missing in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake were miraculously found and recently returned to her parents.
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When the devastating 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck Japan’s northeast coast on March 11 that year, six-year-old Natsuse Yamane was at home with her grandmother.
Their home was in Yamada town, Iwate prefecture on Honshu, Japan’s main island.
Her mother, Chiyumi, recalled that her daughter was caught up in the tsunami on her way from home to the refuge centre.
The earthquake also caused a major fire, and the other family members who were out of town could not get close to them.
The grandmother was saved, but Natsuse remained one of the 2,500 missing.
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The family searched refuge centres, temporary morgues and other places for her after the disaster.
