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To preserve the memory of the March 2011 calamity for future generations, universities are collecting three-dimensional data on tsunami-ravaged buildings and other structures before they are torn down.<\/p>\n
Tohoku University and the University of Tokyo are using lasers to make precise measurements, the same method being used to document the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia.<\/p>\n
The Tohoku University Museum in Sendai has measured a fishing boat that washed up on the coast in Kesennuma and the exposed frame of a municipal office building in the town of Minamisanriku.<\/p>\n
A viewer can \u201cwalk through\u201d the structures by wearing special 3-D glasses while viewing the images on a personal computer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one way to virtually restore the site of the disaster,\u201d said Tohoku University professor Hiroshi Nishi.<\/p>\n
Ravaged buildings are being demolished in the disaster zone as reconstruction progresses, raising concerns that people will forget the magnitude of what happened.<\/p>\n
Tohoku University plans to accelerate its measurement work in the hardest-hit prefectures \u2014 Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima \u2014 in cooperation with local governments and private organizations.<\/p>\n