The famous pine forest (Takata Matsubara) which used to stretch for 2km/1.2mi along the beach of Rikuzentakata was entirely destroyed by the tsunami that followed the earthquake of 11 March 2011. Of the 70,000 trees (some of which were over 350 years old), the only one to remain standing was this 27.5m/88ft-high pine tree and it rapidly became a symbol of hope for the town. It was decided to preserve the "miracle pine" artificially (very damaged, it was officially declared dead in 2012) and include it in a future memorial park.