Long-awaited book lovers arrived at the municipal library
[From Ofunato city-my stricken home town]
-Great East Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Disaster-
Ofunato municipal library reopened
The Ofunato municipal library has been closed since March 11 when the East Japan Great Earthquake and Tsunami occurred. The library in the Rias-hall named after the saw tooth coastline in Ofunato reopened for citizens on June 4. A unique building ‘Rias-hall has been used as a temporary emergency shelter for tsunami victims. Just after reopened its door at 9:00 a.m. a large number of visitors arrived one after another, who were really looking forward to enjoy reading books.
Mr. Shuto Tomita (3) from Takkon town with his mother had waited in front of the library before its opening hour. He rushed straight to the shelve for animation videos when the door was opened. ‘We were looking forward to reopening of the library.’ His mother Ms. Miho (31) was watching over her son in smile. There are also visitors from neighboring city, Rikuzen-takata because their own municipal library was totally damaged by the tsunami. ‘We were really like to come to the library. Only our problem now is how to pick up our favorite books, because there are too many books.’ A couple of sister from the neighboring city, Ms. Hina Kinno (5th grade of Takata Elementary School) and her sister Ms. Rina (3rd grade) looked busy selecting their favorite books.
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| Ofunato municipal library is located in a unique building ‘Rias-hall’. |
The librarians are now appealing citizens to notify if they lost books or registered cards of the library at the disaster. The business hours of the library are from 9:00 to 17:00, and it is closed on Tuesday. Web service, such as reservation for book lending and library catalogue, has still not ready to operate yet.
＜Reference＞
http://www.iwate-np.co.jp/
View Rias-hall in a larger map
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