These images show the effects of the tsunami on Japan‘s coastline. The image on the left was taken on Sept. 5, 2010; the image on the right was taken on March 12, 2011, one day after an earthquake and resulting tsunami struck the island nation.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1893.html
Amid the vastness of the devastation in Japan, there were a handful of small miracles.
Shinkawa, 60, had seen his wife swept away by the tidal wave that washed his home away and sent him swirling into the open ocean clinging to debris.
He spent two days on the makeshift 10-foot raft his roof had become, trying to hail rescuers with a scrap of red cloth affixed to a long stick.
“Several helicopters and ships passed by, but none of them noticed me,” he was quoted as saying by the Kyodo News Agency.
Finally, someone on a passing naval destroyer spotted him and sent a small boat to fetch him.
When he was brought on board, Shinkawa immediately burst into tears.
Related:
Rescue teams fanned out across northern Japan early Saturday, as the latest TV pictures revealed shocking scenes of devastation in the aftermath of Friday’s powerful earthquake and deadly tsunamis.
The rush now is to establish the priorities for help — no easy task because the affected area is so large, the destruction so immense. Fifty thousand rescue personnel are being mobilized.
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