Remarkable Stories from Japan's Tsunami Disaster
There are so many remarkable survival and eyewitness stories coming out of Japan as survivors finally upload their stories, photos and video into Internet's viral world. YouTube is full of them. Some are just amazing stories from the moment the tsunami started to roll over the coastline and into many towns and cities. More amazing are that the eyewitnesses are still alive! This is not to diminish the videos show the 9.0 earthquake that show equally amazing cracks suddenly appearing and growing splitting roads and buildings. Its all horrible. But, there is something even more petrifying showing the raw power of a massive 30 ft wave of water, or a large Bay, where ships and boats usually docked, empty of water. Scenes from a disaster movie!
Take, Yasumasa Miyakawa, and his "scene from hell" harrowing account. This 70-yr. old man and his wife. Both heard the tsunami sirens blare, both scrambled up to the a nearby hill. However, Yasumasa, then remembered that he had left an iron on. Yes, he was ironing clothes and forgot to turn it off! Silly as it may seem, he ran down the hill to turn it off fearing a fire. At this point, except for the commotion, everything was fine. He turned off the iron. Upon leaving the house, people screamed, "run!". He looked and saw a huge wall of water entering from the end of the street. He jumped in his car and by the time he started moving, the water was almost upon him. He floored the accelerator, the car zoomed to 80 mph down the vacant street. It was a scene from a disaster flick. The wall of water was still gaining! His car sped up to a nearby hill and the water did not.
Take Sato, a 13-yr. middle school student, who fled to a three story building for safety as the tsunami approached. Some 30 people had also gathered for safety on top peering down as the building was surrounded by rising water. They were a small island about a half mile from the coast. Suddenly, another wave, a monster in size, simply swept across the top and pinned Sato against a steel railing, his head just above water. He clung to railing and antenna for dear life until the water receded. Only 10 people survived.
Finally, a person driving along the coastal highway, protected by a huge seawall, found himself suddenly attacked by a huge tsunami wave at the moment it first occurred. The wave engulfed the car, picked it up, and carried it to a parking lot, where the driver managed to escape with his video (see attached).
