Three former students from tsunami-hit Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, have made a plea to preserve the school premises by calling on first lady Akie Abe to help their voices be heard.

In a letter they handed to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, who visited the school on Sunday, the children wrote they will keep fighting to have the premises preserved as a reminder of the tragedy that struck there March 11, 2011.

Of the 108 students who were attending the school at the time, 74 children, as well as 10 teachers, were swept away by the tsunami.