A town in northeastern Japan on Wednesday completed demolishing its old town office building where its mayor and 27 other office workers were killed in a tsunami triggered by the devastating quake in March 2011, although some residents had sought its preservation as a memorial.

The work to tear down the two-story building in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, started on Jan. 19. The rubble was taken away and the area turned into open land.

A woman in her 40s who visited the site from the western Japanese city of Wakayama said, "I wanted them to preserve (the building) but I cannot express my opinion lightly as there must be various thoughts on the issue."

While some residents of Otsuchi said they did not want to see the building because it reminded them of the tsunami, others said it should be preserved as a memorial. In January, the Morioka District Court rejected a petition to suspend the work.

The town government will develop the place into a green space and use it as a site for leaving cars in times of emergency evacuation, including for natural disasters.