While a high school student in 2018, HORAGUCHI Rui delivered the kick-off declaration at the commemorative match to mark completion of the Kamaishi Unosumai Memorial Stadium, built on the site of the elementary school she had attended. Her speech,which began with the word “I love Kamaishi,” moved many people. Life in an evacuation shelter after the disaster was not without difficulties, but people stepped forward to offer aid with things including school bags and stationery. Currently, Rui studies disaster readiness at university. She says she wants to draw on her personal experience to teach the importance of disaster readiness to children who did not experience the earthquake, to protect loved ones and the city she loves.
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