0:01:00 > 0:01:02This is the story of the Japanese tsunami
0:01:02 > 0:01:05and the nuclear disaster which followed,
0:01:05 > 0:01:07told through the eyes of children.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56The tsunami struck on a Friday afternoon
0:01:56 > 0:01:58just before the end of the school day.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02It destroyed dozens of schools
0:02:02 > 0:02:05along 200 miles of Japan's north-east coast.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11All the schools evacuated to high ground except for one.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15Okawa Primary School,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19more than two miles inland by the Kitakami River.
0:02:25 > 0:02:31Ten-year-old twins Soma and Fuka were in the fourth year.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35The earthquake which produced the tsunami
0:03:35 > 0:03:38struck at 2:46pm on 11th March.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30The earthquake measured nine on the Richter Scale
0:04:30 > 0:04:33and lasted more than two minutes.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Before hitting Okawa Primary,
0:05:08 > 0:05:12the tsunami would destroy two other schools closer to the sea.
0:05:13 > 0:05:19The first stood by the river mouth, looking out over the ocean.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39The teachers at this school led the children to safety on higher ground.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Now the tsunami surged up the Kitakami River,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03engulfing a second primary school.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Teachers and children at this school escaped to the roof.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08Now the tsunami headed for Okawa, the school furthest inland.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17More than half-an-hour had passed since the earthquake.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22Around 100 children were still in the playground, waiting.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04The teachers were debating whether to go up the hill
0:08:04 > 0:08:07behind the school, used as a nature trail...
0:08:07 > 0:08:10or head for the nearby bridge.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26In the space of half-an-hour,
0:09:26 > 0:09:31the tsunami laid waste to 200 miles of Japan's Pacific coastline
0:09:31 > 0:09:33and claimed 19,000 lives.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43As the tsunami subsided,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46100 miles south of Okawa Primary School, in Fukushima,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49another calamity was unleashed.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54The tsunami had knocked out the cooling systems
0:09:54 > 0:09:57at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Nuclear fuel in three of its reactors began to melt down.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14As the power company struggled to regain control of the plant,
0:10:14 > 0:10:16one of the reactors exploded.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47Two days after the first, a second explosion released
0:10:47 > 0:10:50a cloud of radioactive dust high into the atmosphere.
0:11:34 > 0:11:3526 hours after the tsunami,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38the government issued an evacuation order
0:11:38 > 0:11:41to everyone living within 12 miles of the plant.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47Over the next two days, 80,000 people abandoned their homes.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26The government imposed a 12-mile exclusion zone,
0:12:26 > 0:12:31sealing off the plant and the now empty towns from the outside world.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55Ten-year-old Rikku is from Tomioka, a town deep in the exclusion zone.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01It could be decades before children can go back to Tomioka.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13Radioactive contamination didn't stop at the boundary of the exclusion zone
0:14:13 > 0:14:17which was an arbitrary line drawn by the authorities.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20It spread throughout the wider Fukushima area,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23creating ghost towns up to 30 miles from the plant.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30Many families with children fled to distant parts of Japan.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33But some, reluctant to leave their home area,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36evacuated no further than Minamisoma,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39the city on the very edge of the exclusion zone.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Children from the exclusion zone
0:14:46 > 0:14:49were absorbed into Minamisoma's schools.
0:14:57 > 0:15:03THEY SING IN JAPANESE
0:15:03 > 0:15:06The children of the exclusion zone exist in a kind of limbo,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09waiting for the authorities to decide when or if
0:15:09 > 0:15:12they can return to their homes.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21The nuclear accident took away not just their homes
0:15:21 > 0:15:25but their communities and most of their friends.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29In the meantime, they've had to adapt to a strange, new world
0:15:29 > 0:15:32in the shadow of the stricken reactor.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48Ten-year-old Saki's bedroom window looks out over the exclusion zone.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15SHE PLAYS MUSIC
0:16:32 > 0:16:36Saki's home town lies beyond the barrier.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19BEEPING
0:17:23 > 0:17:26For the children of Fukuskima, learning about
0:17:26 > 0:17:31the dangers of radiation has become part of growing up.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28As part of a long-term experiment,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32every child in Fukushima's been asked to carry a dosimeter
0:18:32 > 0:18:35which records their exposure to radiation.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28BEEPING
0:20:15 > 0:20:18CHILDREN SINGING
0:20:18 > 0:20:20BEEPING
0:20:42 > 0:20:45Good morning, everyone.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47How are you?
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Please have a nice day.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37THEY SING
0:22:04 > 0:22:08Ayaka is an evacuee from the exclusion zone
0:22:08 > 0:22:10but she has nowhere to go back to.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14Her family home was destroyed by the tsunami.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17All that's left are the foundations.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25Ayaka's grandfather was at home when the tsunami came.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51At weekends, Ayaka is allowed to play outside,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55but only once her father has checked the radiation in the street.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19Radioactivity in Ayaka's street, measured in microsieverts,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23is 15 to 20 times what it was before the accident.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16While the children of Fukushima adapted to a new way of living,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19100 miles north, where the tsunami hit hardest
0:26:19 > 0:26:22nearly 4,000 of its victims were still missing.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47At Okawa Primary School on the Kitakami River,
0:26:47 > 0:26:52ten teachers and 74 children died that Friday afternoon.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53Two months after the tsunami,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57six children and one teacher were still missing.
0:28:06 > 0:28:1012-year-old Koharu was in the sixth year.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18When the authorities scaled down their efforts,
0:29:18 > 0:29:22Naomi and a few other parents carried on searching.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01While a handful of parents looked for their children's remains,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04others were searching for an explanation.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44The school authorities had delayed four weeks before meeting
0:30:44 > 0:30:48with bereaved parents to explain what went wrong.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59There were 11 teachers at Okawa School when the tsunami hit.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02One survived - Junji Endo.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05HE BANGS SHOE ON TABLE
0:33:14 > 0:33:16PARENTS SOB
0:34:10 > 0:34:13As the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant wore on,
0:34:13 > 0:34:17children from the exclusion zone were left wondering when, if ever,
0:34:17 > 0:34:20they'd be able to return home.
0:35:08 > 0:35:13Eight-year-old Kosei was evacuated to his grandmother's house
0:35:13 > 0:35:17in Minamisoma, the town next to the exclusion zone.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21The house is close to the Fukushima Hills,
0:35:21 > 0:35:22where radiation is high.
0:37:28 > 0:37:34MUSIC: "Fur Elise" by Ludwig Van Beethoven
0:37:46 > 0:37:49PLAYS FUR ELISE FALTERINGLY
0:37:49 > 0:37:52To a 10-year-old from a small town in the exclusion zone,
0:37:52 > 0:37:56the emergency housing camps are an alien world.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39Seven-year-old Mutsumi shares a two-room housing unit
0:38:39 > 0:38:42with her sisters, Megumi and Manami.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18THEY GIGGLE PLAYFULLY
0:40:22 > 0:40:25100 miles north of Fukushima,
0:40:25 > 0:40:30Naomi's search for her daughter has ended, six months after the tsunami.
0:42:43 > 0:42:48Since the accident, evacuees from the Fukushima exclusion zone
0:42:48 > 0:42:51have been granted two brief visits to their homes.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56Visits are strictly limited to four hours.
0:42:56 > 0:43:01Evacuees must enter and exit the exclusion zone through a special facility.
0:43:04 > 0:43:09Cars and belongings are screened for radiation when they return.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25In Minamisoma, the city next to the exclusion zone,
0:48:25 > 0:48:30school playgrounds are being decontaminated by removing two inches of topsoil
0:48:30 > 0:48:32and replacing it with clean sand.
0:48:34 > 0:48:39The radioactive topsoil is then buried in shallow pits under the playgrounds.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04No-one knows when or if radiation will cause physical illness
0:49:04 > 0:49:07in the children of Fukushima.
0:49:09 > 0:49:15But the psychological impact of the disaster is being felt already.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10Nine months after the tsunami,
0:50:10 > 0:50:14the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was finally shut down.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24But the 80,000 people from the exclusion zone
0:50:24 > 0:50:27are still waiting for permission to go home.
0:51:19 > 0:51:23CHILDREN SING
0:52:24 > 0:52:26CHILDREN SING
0:58:16 > 0:58:19Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd