Hell on Earth: A town reduced to a morass of splintered wood, jagged concrete and twisted metal where 10,000 have died
Channel 4 News journalist only Western reporter to make it to the shattered coastal town of Minami Sanriku. Scene is 'reminiscent of the photographs of Nagasaki or Hiroshima after the A bombs were dropped'. 2,800 confirmed dead and 10,000 missing.
The first thing you notice is the silence which seems to hang over the place. There is no sound as we approach this once-thriving coastal town. Driving round the final bend in the mountain road before making the descent into Minami Sanriku, nothing can quite prepare you for the sight of such destruction. In my 30 years as a war correspondent I have covered more than 20 conflicts and several major earthquakes, but I have never seen anything on this scale. One minute you are passing through towns and villages completely untouched by natural disaster – not even a pane missing from the windows – and then as you turn the corner it hits you. The most astonishing view stretches out below towards the sea for at least four miles. An entire town of around 17,000 people has simply ceased to exist here. At least 95 per cent of the buildings are not merely ruined; they have been reduced to a morass of splintered wood, jagged concrete and twisted metal. All of this is hideously decorated with the details of destroyed family lives: a woman smiles up from her wedding photographs, a smashed guitar lies in the debris. I see a broken doll, and pages from a child’s school exercise book.
Daily Mail: Man is rescued TEN MILES out to sea
NYT: In Tsunami’s Wake, Much Searching but Few Are Rescued
AWIP: Amazing Ground video of tsunami in Iwaki City, Japan - VIDEOS
Google Crisis Response: 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami