The Big Wave

It definitely is poetry. 'Earth is not water. Earth is a bell'.
A good blend of Japanese culture, literature and the tsunami tragedy.
I recall this particular tsunami effects in Japan. Huge boats on tops of houses. loads of cars washed off. The author talks to many people in the wake of the disaster and helps many of them. And were the animals forgotten. Basho poems. Poems about the wave.
there is a reference to Tendenko where you run to the higher land instead of looking out for others in the face of tsunami. This is how 'Wave' by Sonali Deraniyagala begins.