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.
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.
A massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake has struck off Japan’s northeastern coast, triggering a four meter tsunami that washed away cars along parts of the coastline.
Video from national broadcaster NHK showed dozens of cars, large ferries and some buildings being swept out to sea in the port city of Kamaishi in the province of Iwate.
The Japanese Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warming for the entire Pacific coast of Japan following the quake that struck about 125 kilometers off the eastern coast, at a depth of 10 kilometers. Residents in the coastal areas have been urged to immediately evacuate to higher ground.
Friday’s massive quake was felt in Tokyo, where it shook buildings and caused several fires. The Tokyo metro system says all train and subway traffic in the city has been stopped.
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