Grim: Volunteers prepare a large grave for one of Japan’s first mass burials to take place in Higashimatsushima tomorrow
As a country they pride themselves on dignity and honour, on saving face and showing respect.
But there will be few of those attributes on display tomorrow morning when Japan lines mass graves with hundreds of its dead – victims of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.
The first of the haunting pictures emerged today, with still-grieving volunteers digging a macabre pit in Higashimatsushima to bury their their dead.
The long trench containing crude pieces of ply-wood in place to separate the coffins looked more like the foundations of a building site than a final resting place.
But hundreds of Japanese people killed by the tsunami will be finally laid to rest in one of the country’s first mass burials since the life-shattering earthquake struck on March 11.
Their bodies had been simply scooped up from the streets by workers sifting through the wreckage of the city in Miyagi, one of the worst hit areas of Japan’s northeast coast.
Similar heart-breaking scenes will take place around the country after the death toll from the disaster hit 18,000 with many more still missing.
The funerals come as Japan continued to battle radiation leaks…CONTINUED HERE
