Browse content similar to 02/02/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hi, I'm Ayshah, with a special Newsround. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:13 | |
It's nearly five years since Japan was hit by one of the most | 0:00:13 | 0:00:16 | |
powerful earthquakes ever. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:17 | |
It caused a tsunami out at sea, bringing a massive wave | 0:00:17 | 0:00:21 | |
which destroyed whole towns in its path. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:24 | |
Leah travelled to Japan to meet some children who are still affected | 0:00:24 | 0:00:27 | |
by what happened. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:27 | |
Tokyo, it's a fast moving city that never sleeps, | 0:00:32 | 0:00:36 | |
home to millions of people. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
It's also a place where earthquakes are a way of life. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:43 | |
But on the 11th of March 2011, the country was struck by one | 0:00:43 | 0:00:49 | |
of the most powerful quakes in years. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:53 | |
The quake struck in the middle of the working day. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
On Newsround, there's only one story. | 0:00:57 | 0:00:59 | |
The massive earthquake that has hit Japan. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:01 | |
Just before three in the afternoon, one of the most powerful earthquakes | 0:01:01 | 0:01:04 | |
on record hit north-eastern Japan. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:09 | |
But something more devastating was on its way. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:13 | |
These are the rather shocking and amazing pictures that | 0:01:13 | 0:01:15 | |
are coming into us live now from the state broadcaster. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:20 | |
The earthquake triggered a tsunami right out at sea, | 0:01:21 | 0:01:24 | |
and a half an hour later, a ten metre high wave slammed | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
into the coast, destroying everything in its path, | 0:01:27 | 0:01:32 | |
including the town of Ishinomaki. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:35 | |
Ishinomaki was one of the many coastal towns along the north-east | 0:01:38 | 0:01:40 | |
of the country badly hit by the tsunami. | 0:01:40 | 0:01:44 | |
Many homes, businesses and schools were simply washed away. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:50 | |
Today, in Ishinomaki, life is returning to normal. | 0:01:55 | 0:02:01 | |
One girl who will never forget what happened that day is Hinako. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:07 | |
I was sitting somewhere here when we felt the quake. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:13 | |
At first I didn't think it would be that big, | 0:02:13 | 0:02:16 | |
but soon I realised it would be huge. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:19 | |
We all went under desks to protect ourselves, | 0:02:19 | 0:02:22 | |
but the desks were shifting and the windows were broken. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:25 | |
We all knew the earthquake would not be as small as the ones | 0:02:25 | 0:02:29 | |
we were used to. | 0:02:29 | 0:02:32 | |
So, this is the room that Hinako and her friends witnessed | 0:02:32 | 0:02:35 | |
the tsunami wave rising and rising, and it was quite | 0:02:35 | 0:02:39 | |
fast and quite high. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:44 | |
It was shocking to see the seat and swings floating in the water, | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
rising up high enough to cover the whole slide. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
I wondered if I was outside at this very moment, | 0:02:50 | 0:02:52 | |
what would happen to me? | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
Hinako took us to how where her old house used to be. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
No one in the house was killed but this empty spot | 0:02:59 | 0:03:02 | |
is all that remains. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:05 | |
This is where your home used to be. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
Can you tell us what happened to it? | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
Ever since I was born, I lived in this house with my mum, | 0:03:10 | 0:03:15 | |
dad and big sister. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
She was alone at home when the tsunami hit the house. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
She ran to our neighbour and saw a car being washed away | 0:03:20 | 0:03:23 | |
by the tsunami. | 0:03:23 | 0:03:25 | |
She insisted she never wanted to live around here again. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:27 | |
That's why we decided to leave the area. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:31 | |
My school friends helped me out through the difficult times | 0:03:31 | 0:03:34 | |
after the tsunami. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
I have many friends now. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:38 | |
I feel very lucky. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:40 | |
It's great to see children like Hinako back in the classroom | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
with friends who support one another. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:47 | |
But there's a town not too far away from here that is thought to be too | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
dangerous for anybody to live. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:54 | |
This is Tomioka Town. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:02 | |
Just look around. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:04 | |
It's deserted. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:06 | |
Shop fronts were completely destroyed, cars overturned, | 0:04:06 | 0:04:10 | |
and the reason people don't live here any more | 0:04:10 | 0:04:12 | |
is because of something called radiation. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
It leaked from the nuclear power station just a few kilometres | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
from here after the building was hit by a powerful wave. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:23 | |
Nuclear energy provides us with some of the electricity | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
which powers our homes. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:30 | |
It's made in power plants by something called | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
a nuclear fission reaction. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:34 | |
This process creates lots of energy, some | 0:04:34 | 0:04:37 | |
of which is in the form of radiation. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:39 | |
Normally, the radioactive material is sealed within | 0:04:39 | 0:04:42 | |
the nuclear power station. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:45 | |
But in this power plant, the damage caused by the tsunami | 0:04:45 | 0:04:48 | |
meant that some of the radiation leaked out. | 0:04:48 | 0:04:53 | |
You can't taste, smell or see radiation with your eyes, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
but very high levels of exposure can make you ill. | 0:04:55 | 0:05:00 | |
Many people in Japan were very worried about what had happened. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:04 | |
After the accident, Japan's government moved everyone living | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
within a few miles of the plant and closed it down. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:10 | |
It was the world's worst nuclear disaster for 25 years. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:15 | |
This would have been the main street into the town. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
But today, nobody lives or works here. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:22 | |
And it's been like this ever since the government ordered people | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
to leave, concerned over dangerously high levels of radiation that may | 0:05:25 | 0:05:29 | |
have fallen to the ground after the nuclear plant disaster. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:34 | |
But it's OK for us to be here today because we're wearing these plastic | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
protective covers on our shoes and we're only | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
here for a short time. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
Some scientists have tried to reassure people that areas | 0:05:44 | 0:05:46 | |
like this, close to the power plant, are safe. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:50 | |
Others think it could take hundreds of years for all the radiation | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
to completely break down. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:57 | |
It's playtime here in Koriyama city. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
It's a two-hour drive from the nuclear plant. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:09 | |
This place was built a year after the disaster | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
and it was a chance to give children a safe environment to play and also | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
to have loads of fun. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
Fear of radiation means many parents prefer their children to play | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
indoors, and that means many children here have no idea what it's | 0:06:25 | 0:06:29 | |
like to play outside in the fresh air. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:35 | |
This is one of Koriyama's biggest parks, and with school just | 0:06:37 | 0:06:40 | |
finishing, you'd expect this place to be packed full | 0:06:40 | 0:06:44 | |
of children playing. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:45 | |
Over there is a gadget that monitors the radiation. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:49 | |
At the moment it is safe but it is a fear of radiation | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
that is keeping people away. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:55 | |
But things are slowly starting to change. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:58 | |
The fear of radiation isn't completely gone. | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
We have less opportunity to play outside compared | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
to before the disaster. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
And when we were stuck indoors, we were all getting angry | 0:07:07 | 0:07:10 | |
and arguing a lot. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:11 | |
We can now go outside more and that's made us closer | 0:07:11 | 0:07:14 | |
and better friends. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:16 | |
Before the quake I was playing with my friends outside, | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
sometimes playing ball and having barbecues over the weekend. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:24 | |
We couldn't use the school field, even though we wanted to be active. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
That made us pretty stressed. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
Now I have more friends and we enjoyed being able to play | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
together as a group. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:34 | |
What happened that day and the destruction that it brought | 0:07:34 | 0:07:38 | |
will stay with the people of Japan forever. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:40 | |
Natural disasters will always be a part of life for children here, | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
but I have witnessed their strength and determination to get | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
back to normal. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:48 | |
But more than anything, it's friendship and families | 0:07:48 | 0:07:51 | |
being together that made them strong and able to cope with whatever might | 0:07:51 | 0:07:55 | |
come their way in the future. | 0:07:55 | 0:07:57 |