An association of bereaved families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States on Thursday donated a monument to the city of Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, as a symbol
of its recovery efforts from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.
     The monument in the shape of a crane, with a wing span of 80 centimeters, is made from debris of the World Trade Center, which collapsed in the terrorist attacks. The monument will be erected in Koriyama's Kaiseizan Park in the northeastern Japan prefecture.
     The September 11th Families' Association was previously
presented with a paper crane made by Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who battled illness caused by the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima until her death at age 12.
     The crane monument represents the association's gratitude for the girl's paper crane and is intended as a symbol to help Japanese people overcome their suffering from the major disaster.
     In presenting the monument at the Koriyama city hall, Lee Ielpi, the association's president who lost his son in the terrorist attacks, said that Sadako's wish for a bright future had reached New York and it was being returned to Japan.