A hospital with an attached nursing home for the elderly that was severely damaged by the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11 last year in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, made a fresh start Sunday, after the facility was rebuilt with donations from Switzerland.
The only medical institution in the coastal town of about 8,300 people was refurbished at a cost of some ¥1.9 billion shouldered by the Swiss Red Cross. Seawater from the tsunami inundated the first floor of the four-story building, located on a hill 16 meters above sea level. Reports said the height of the wall of water reached almost 2 meters above ground level at the hospital.
The Onagawa Community Medical Center now has 19 beds for patients and 100 beds for the elderly residing in the nursing home section. The hospital, which was run by the town government at the time of the disaster, was privatized last October.