Tsunami
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Yusuke Amano / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer RIKUZEN-TAKATA, Iwate--An administrator at a hospital destroyed by the March 11 tsunami gave his life to protect a precious lifeline--a satellite phone that was doctors' only link to the outside world after the disaster. Sixty-year-old Shigeru Yokosawa was scheduled to retire at the end of the month, but he died in the tsunami that consumed Takata Hospital in Rikuzen-Takata. Since that tragic day, the hospital's staff has continued to work in a makeshift clinic, using the satellite phone to communicate with rescuers and aid workers. Land lines and cell phones in the city were out of service after the disaster, making the satellite phone the only way to request medication and call for help with patients needing emergency care.
Ultimate sacrifice given for a lifeline / As tsunami rushed in, hospital worker spent his last seconds securing satellite phone
Kunio Imakawa, a 75-year-old barber, was not among them. Mr. Imakawa and his wife, Shizuko, lost his three-chair barber shop, their second-floor apartment and all their belongings in the tsunami.
‘Too Late’ for Some Tsunami Victims to Rebuild on Japanese Coast
Victims' health growing concern
The Yomiuri Shimbun Medical support is desperately needed at the shelters in the quake zone as the threat of influenza and other infectious diseases grows. Conditions appear to be worsening in the Tohoku region due to the lack of sufficient food, water, medicine and heating supplies. This is especially true in the shelters along the Pacific coast--including in the Kanto region--which was ravaged by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami last Friday.A Long, Painful Reckoning in Japan
By JURO OSAWA and PHRED DVORAK in Tokyo and DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI and TOKO SEKIGUCHI in Onagawa, Japan In Onagawa, Japan, a grim search and recovery mission has begun-- no one is calling it a rescue anymore. Half of the town's 10,000 residents are missing.
3,373 people confirmed dead, 6,746 missing
More than 10,000 people were confirmed dead or missing as of Tuesday following last week’s catastrophic earthquake, the worst casualty total from a natural disaster since the 1923 Great Kanto Hanshin Earthquake, the National Police Agency said. The NPA said 3,373 people were confirmed dead and 6,746 were missing as of 8 p.m. But with many unidentified bodies turning up in quake-hit coastal areas, the death toll was expected to jump further.
At Core of Ruin, a Search for Life
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI And TOKO SEKIGUCHI MINAMISANRIKU, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan—When a giant tsunami more than 30 feet high crashed into the shores of this quiet fishing village Friday, hundreds, if not thousands, of its residents were swept away. With hardly a building now standing in the town's lower basin, Minamisanriku is the focal point of the devastation on Japan's northeastern coast. Survivors in the tiny fishing village of Minamisanriku, on Japan's northern coast, are sifting through the wreckage wrought by the tsunami in search of signs of hope.Reporter's 43-hour ordeal in tsunami zone / Yomiuri Shimbun scribe's 1st-hand account of awaiting rescue with 450 fellow survivors
Keiichi Nakane / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer The following is a report from a Yomiuri Shimbun staff writer stationed in Miyagi Prefecture's Kesennuma, which was hit by a massive tsunami caused by the earthquake that hit northern Japan on Friday. Nakane, 27, was at an emergency evacuation site to interview citizens when the first tsunami hit the city. He was stranded at the evacuation site for about 43 hours with about 450 citizens after the tsunami hit the three-story building. He spent two nights there before being rescued by helicopter. KESENNUMA, Miyagi--When the earthquake occurred at 2:46 p.m.
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI , KOSAKU NARIOKA And TOKO SEKIGUCHI IWANUMA, Japan—As the tsunami warnings subsided in the area near Sendai airport in Miyagi prefecture, one of the locations decimated by the giant waves that followed the devastating earthquake that struck Japan Friday, local residents started the recovery process. The head of police in Miyagi said it is inevitable that the number of casualties in the prefecture alone would reach 10,000, according to unconfirmed local-media reports. Hundreds of cars and large parts of the area surrounding Sendai Airport were submerged as the tsunami flooded nearby waterways. Stunned locals stared at the damage and consoled one another in the debris-covered streets. Scenes From Sendai
Japan Comes to Grips With Damage - WSJ.com
TOKYO, March 11, 2011 (AFP) - A ship carrying about 100 people was swept away by the huge tsunami that hit Japan on Friday and its fate was unknown, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing Miyagi prefecture police. The ship was owned by a shipbuilder in Ishinomaki, Miyagi, said Kyodo News. No further information was immediately available from Japanese media or prefectural police which AFP reached by telephone. Friday's massive quake struck just under 400 kilometres (250 miles) northeast of Tokyo, creating a 10-metre (33 feet) tsunami wave that hit the Pacific coast of Honshu island near Sendai city.
Japan tsunami carries away ship with 100 people: media
Two Dogs Defy the Wave
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI And ERIC BELLMAN The massive tsunami destroyed most of the neighborhood in Sendai where Kayo Kikuchi and her father live. But somehow their two dogs, Towa and Melody, survived. WSJ's Daisuke Wakabayashi and Lam Thuy Vo report. ARAHAMA, Miyagi Prefecture—When the tsunami warnings sounded after the massive earthquake that struck Japan on Friday, Masaki Kikuchi sprinted upstairs to grab his sleeping 12-year-old daughter before racing away to escape the rushing waters. In the backyard tied to a small shed, Mr.