12 Years On: Ukrainian Working as Volunteer at Tsunami Ruins

Ishinomaki, Miyagi Pref., March 11 (Jiji Press)--A 63-year-old Ukrainian evacuee has been working as a volunteer at the preserved remnants of a tsunami-hit elementary school in Ishinomaki, hoping to help the northeastern Japan city.

Originally from Chernihiv Oblast in northern Ukraine, Iryna Honcharova was forced to live in a basement of an apartment for about a month after Russia began invading Ukraine last year.

After living without running water, electricity or heating, she sought safety in the city of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, where her first son lives, in April last year.

Together with her 87-year-old mother, Lidiya, Honcharova moved into public housing built following the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami.

She gradually acclimatized to the life in Japan thanks to the support of those around her.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]