The mayor of Minamisanriku Town in Miyagi Prefecture, which was hit hard by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, says a town office building where more than 40 people died will be preserved as a memorial site.

The tsunami, which occurred 13 years ago on March 11, engulfed the town's disaster-preparedness office and killed 43 people, including town officials.

Opinions were divided among bereaved families and residents over whether the building should be preserved or demolished. This resulted in the transfer of the ownership of the remaining structure from the town to the prefecture in 2015. The arrangement put the prefecture in charge of maintaining and managing the site until 2031.

On Friday, Mayor Sato Jin told reporters that the town should maintain and manage the building to pass down the experience of the disaster to future generations. He added preserving the structure is the only option.

He said the prefecture will return ownership to the town at the end of June and that he had conveyed the decision to some of the bereaved families.

Sato said he has been thinking about how to handle the issue for the past 13 years. He added many people visit the building for disaster-preparedness education and it is unimaginable that the structure does not exist at the current site.