The Extraordinary Voyage of Kamome; A Tsunami Boat Comes Home

Image

Lori Dengler and Amya Miller, Illustrated by Amy Uyeki

Description

This sweet story, intended for lower elementary grades, is intended to provide a window for discussing earthquakes, tsunamis, marine debris, preparedness and cultural awareness in the classroom and within families.

On April 7, 2013, a little over two years after the magnitude 9 Tohoku-oki Japan earthquake triggered a massive tsunami off the coast of northeastern Japan, a lone boat washed up on the shores of Crescent City, California. The confirmation of the boat as belonging to a high school in Rikuzentakata was first step in an amazing story that has linked two tsunami-vulnerable communities on opposite sides of the Pacific and initiated friendships between high school students in Rikuzentakata. This story is now told in a children’s book to be released by Humboldt State University Press in November, 2015. Co-authored by Humboldt State University Emeritus Geology Professor Lori Dengler and Amya Miller, the Director of Global Public Relations in Rikuzentakata, the book features illustrations by Arcata artist Amy Uyeki.