The old Onokiba Elementary school, Nagasaki

In the afternoon, we had decided to take a drive🚙 to the old Onokiba Elementary school building in Minamishimabara. As I wrote in my blog before, I have the memories of the Mount Unzen eruption 30 years ago: On June 3, 1991, the building was engulfed by a pyroclastic surge caused by volcanic eruption, leaving 43 people died or missing, including members of the media and firefighters. 

I wanted to know about pyroclastic flows, so I visited the Mount Unzen Disaster Museum before. This time, I thought I would learn more about it, so I went to the old elementary school building affected by a pyroclastic flow. Currently, the school building damaged by the disaster is located here, and the Onokiba Mudslide Prevention Museum and Observatory is right next to it. 

The school building. The largest pyroclastic flow occurred on September 15, 1991, and the building was completely destroyed. But fortunately there were no casualties in the former Fukae town area😇

Mount Fugen can be seen in the background.

Playground. The iron bars and sandbox remain, but the shape of the bars has changed due to the hot air😨

A gingko tree with lush leaves🍃 It looks like burnt by a volcanic eruption, but come back to life with many leaves😊

The image is downloading from Chokologue's blog on fc2.

The Onokiba Mudslide Preservation Museum and Observatory. You can see photos, panels etc. of the disaster situation and recovery efforts. It's free of charge❗