Evacuation orders were partially lifted on Friday, March 7, and the three schools in the Akasaki district of Ofunato will reopen on Monday, March 10. However, life is not yet back to normal for nearly 1,200 residents of the northeastern coastal city of Japan, who have been forced to stay in evacuation centers since the start of the wildfires that have destroyed over 2,900 hectares of forest and residential areas, resulting in one death. Authorities fear further outbreaks of fire.

For some of the evacuees, it's a double blow. Take Akemi Yamaguchi, for example, who, as reported by the public broadcaster NHK, chose to settle in Akasaki after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the city on March 11, 2011. She was living near the sea at the time, but her house and three family members were swept away by the tsunami. She rebuilt her life in Akasaki. "We decided to move to the mountainside for fear of tsunamis, but we fell victim to a forest fire," she said. "I don't know where I can live anymore."

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