Newspaper hit by tsunami won award

A newspaper which continued publishing after it had lost its printing press in the March 11th earthquake and tsunami has won a special award.

The Ishinomaki Hibi Shimbun, a daily newspaper in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi prefecture, was awarded a special citation by the International Press Institute during its world congress and general assembly in Taipei on Sunday.

IPI, headquartered in Austria, decided to give the special award to the daily for its efforts, under difficult conditions, to provide news to the disaster victims.

The 6 reporters wrote the news with pens on big sheets of paper because they could not use computers as the power was out.

The handwritten newspaper was posted at various locations including shelters and a town hall.

It provided information about the extent of the damage and survival information badly needed by those who were affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

For six days, beginning the day after the disaster, the company released handwritten newspapers until they could use computers to print the paper.