Marines Assist Okinawa Residents Restore Egress Route

Photo By Gunnery Sgt. Royce Dorman | Marines and Okinawa residents pose for a picture after a long day of clearing and trimming the edges of the evacuation route to the Togezudaru community, near Gate 4 on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, April 22. The once forgotten route was cleared by Marines from the 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, with the help from other Marine volunteers and Okinawa residents. The road provides a quicker, more efficient route for residents to get to safety in the event of a natural disaster. The old route required residents to walk through lower lying areas that would most likely flood during a natural disaster.  

CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, JAPAN

04.22.2015

Story by Cpl. Royce Dorman 

III Marine Expeditionary Force   

CAMP HANSEN, Japan - Okinawa residents joined Marines in clearing an evacuation route for residents in the Togezudaru community, near Gate 4 on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, April 22.

The developing roadway provides a much larger and more efficient path for residents to seek safety from natural disasters without having to travel through low-lying areas that could flood.

“Clearing and making this path bigger is beneficial,” said the Voluntary Disaster Preparedness Association Chairman Matsuro Nago. “Now residents don’t have to take the much longer route down (highway) 329 and then up to the evacuation area, which was unrealistic in the event of a Tsunami.”

The route was once familiar to residents, but over the years the dense jungle had overtaken most of it, said 1st Lt. Crystal N. Dye the Camp Hansen assistant camp operations officer.

Heavy equipment operators with 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, took the lead in restoring the road back to its former glory.

“The residents here knew of a road that used to exist in this area and they asked camp services if they could get help clearing it so they could have a faster evacuation route,” said Staff Sgt. Christian Keyser the operations chief for the heavy equipment operations platoon 9th ESB. “We cleared out the jungle area yesterday, and now we’re establishing the grade and drainage so the road will last longer.”

Thanks to the combined efforts of local residents and Marines, what was a small trail is now a large clearing connecting the base and the Togezudaru community.

Over the next few weeks, road will continue to receive needed improvements. Once finished, the camp will invite area residents and media on base to mark the opening of this road to safety.

• Date Taken: 04.22.2015
• Date Posted: 04.30.2015 21:47
• Story ID: 161844
• Location: CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, JP