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Remarkable pictures of one of the most destructive earthquakes the | 0:00:14 | 0:00:24 | |
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world's ever seen. This was East Coast Japan just six months ago. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
TRANSLATION: There was such a terrible shaking, that even if you | 0:00:29 | 0:00:35 | |
grabbed hold of something, things were being thrown onto the flor. -- | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
floor. TRANSLATION: When the earthquake | 0:00:38 | 0:00:44 | |
happened, we all took cover under our desks. After the quake, they | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
knew what would happen next, but no-one could have anticipated the | 0:00:47 | 0:00:53 | |
scale of it. Tonight, we follow the tsunami | 0:00:53 | 0:01:03 | |
0:01:03 | 0:01:04 | ||
which killed thousands and rocked the world's third largest economy. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:09 | |
And we track down those swept away by the wave, who, miraculously, | 0:01:09 | 0:01:17 | |
managed to survive. TRANSLATION: A mass of pitch | 0:01:17 | 0:01:26 | |
Blackwater was writhing like a living thing. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:29 | |
TRANSLATION: When it hit me, it felt like a huge gravitational pull. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:39 | |
0:01:39 | 0:01:54 | ||
I couldn't breathe. I was Central Tokyo feels like it | 0:01:54 | 0:02:01 | |
normally does. I've report -- reported from here before. Perhaps | 0:02:01 | 0:02:06 | |
there are fewer lights this time, that's all. They're trying to | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
conserve electricity. The quake was felt here, but its epicentre was | 0:02:10 | 0:02:20 | |
0:02:20 | 0:02:22 | ||
200 miles away off the north-east coast of Japan. We spent three | 0:02:22 | 0:02:32 | |
weeks travelling the disaster zone. 112,000 buildings destroyed, 20,000 | 0:02:32 | 0:02:38 | |
people dead and missing, all in a matter of minutes. This is the | 0:02:38 | 0:02:43 | |
story of how Japan has coped with destruction and loss of life on a | 0:02:43 | 0:02:52 | |
scale it hasn't endured since the Second World War. It begins here in | 0:02:52 | 0:02:58 | |
Hakodate city, on an island in the far north of Japan. We met the crew | 0:02:58 | 0:03:02 | |
of a coastguard ship, who were some of the first to see the tsunami | 0:03:02 | 0:03:08 | |
coming. Six months ago, on the morning of March 11, they dropped | 0:03:08 | 0:03:18 | |
0:03:18 | 0:03:23 | ||
anchor in a port on the East Coast TRANSLATION: There was a very loud | 0:03:23 | 0:03:29 | |
rumbling from the ground and together with that there was a big, | 0:03:29 | 0:03:32 | |
big extremely violent quake that shook this boat up and down and | 0:03:32 | 0:03:42 | |
0:03:42 | 0:03:42 | ||
left and right. Seeing the size of the earthquake and the backwash, I | 0:03:42 | 0:03:48 | |
was certain there would be a tsunami. But instead of abandoning | 0:03:48 | 0:03:52 | |
ship, they set out from the port to meet the tsunami head on. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:56 | |
TRANSLATION: I gave the order to get to as deep water as possible, | 0:03:56 | 0:04:02 | |
to get off shore as fast as possible. On the radar appeared a | 0:04:02 | 0:04:07 | |
thick white line, moving towards them. If they'd stayed in port, the | 0:04:07 | 0:04:12 | |
boat would have been wrecked. This way, at least they had a chance. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:17 | |
TRANSLATION: In front of the boat, at a height of 10 to 15 metres, | 0:04:17 | 0:04:21 | |
there was a high wall, an overwhelming wall of water. We were | 0:04:21 | 0:04:31 | |
0:04:31 | 0:04:36 | ||
heading for something just like the It passes safely beneath them, but | 0:04:36 | 0:04:46 | |
0:04:46 | 0:04:51 | ||
the destruction is just about to There are several tsunamis, | 0:04:51 | 0:04:58 | |
stretching 200 miles and travelling at speeds of up to 370mph. At | 0:04:58 | 0:05:07 | |
thaeproch the north-east coast, they slow, but damager in height. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:12 | |
The resort of Minami Sanriku lay in their path. It was a town of 18,000 | 0:05:12 | 0:05:17 | |
people, famed for its oyster fishing and ocean views. | 0:05:17 | 0:05:27 | |
This was the satellite shot before the tsunami hit. This is how it was | 0:05:27 | 0:05:37 | |
0:05:37 | 0:05:39 | ||
transformed, 95% of its buildings High on a hillside, where it was | 0:05:39 | 0:05:48 | |
judged no tsunami could ever reach, is a pensioners' home. Among its | 0:05:48 | 0:05:52 | |
deb ree, we found this video of some of the 68 residents who used | 0:05:52 | 0:05:57 | |
to live here. Helping one of them is Kango Sasaki, | 0:05:57 | 0:06:03 | |
one of the staff. His wife used to work here too, next door, in the | 0:06:03 | 0:06:11 | |
day centre. After the quake, canningo went outside to inspect | 0:06:11 | 0:06:17 | |
the -- kango went outside. From here I could see incredible disgust | 0:06:17 | 0:06:22 | |
rising up from over there. The trees and houses were just being | 0:06:22 | 0:06:30 | |
mown down. I was sure at the rate, it was going to reach us. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:36 | |
He and his wife rush back in to begin the evacuation. But with 68 | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
immobile pensioners and just minutes to spare, where do you | 0:06:39 | 0:06:46 | |
start? TRANSLATION: I came in here and | 0:06:46 | 0:06:51 | |
stood shouting "evacuate", just yelling it out. I then took hold of | 0:06:51 | 0:06:55 | |
the person, the gentleman in the wheelchair, right in front of me, | 0:06:55 | 0:07:00 | |
and went straight outside, right the way through this park area with | 0:07:00 | 0:07:02 | |
the wheelchair rattling away, heading for the high school at the | 0:07:02 | 0:07:12 | |
0:07:12 | 0:07:12 | ||
top. I just kept going in a straight line. He doesn't look back. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:17 | |
The tsunami has already consumed half the town, hundreds are dead | 0:07:17 | 0:07:23 | |
and it's still advancing. TRANSLATION: I couldn't get any | 0:07:23 | 0:07:28 | |
farther up than this. So I called a fellow member of staff over and we | 0:07:28 | 0:07:33 | |
carried him up towards the higher ground at the high school. Right | 0:07:33 | 0:07:41 | |
the way up there. You can see Kengo in the bottom | 0:07:41 | 0:07:45 | |
left of screen, the wave surging behind him. He returns again to | 0:07:45 | 0:07:49 | |
rescue more, before escaping himself up the hill. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:55 | |
Others weren't so lucky. The man in black, raced down to rescue another | 0:07:55 | 0:07:57 | |
wheelchair user, there's a sudden wheelchair user, there's a sudden | 0:07:57 | 0:08:03 | |
surge of water and he's swept away. This is the place from where they | 0:08:03 | 0:08:07 | |
took that video. The coastline is about half a mile in that direction. | 0:08:07 | 0:08:11 | |
And the place was standing something like 50 feet above sea | 0:08:11 | 0:08:20 | |
level, yet still, the tsunami came roaring up this hillside. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:24 | |
Still down there, a group of women are running for their lives. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:31 | |
One of them is Kuniko Suzuki. Just ahead of her is her daughter in law | 0:08:31 | 0:08:36 | |
Mayumi. TRANSLATION: I wanted to run away | 0:08:36 | 0:08:40 | |
with her. But mother-in-law's legs are bad. She told me, "You go on | 0:08:40 | 0:08:47 | |
ahead." I couldn't leave her behind. But at the same time, she must have | 0:08:47 | 0:08:57 | |
0:08:57 | 0:08:58 | ||
made her decision to push me and say, "Go quickly." I just thought | 0:08:58 | 0:09:04 | |
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." That's why I kept crying out "grandma, | 0:09:04 | 0:09:10 | |
grandma." On the far right of the screen, you can see her mother-in- | 0:09:10 | 0:09:15 | |
law, trying to outrun the tsunami, but she's soon swept away. We | 0:09:15 | 0:09:19 | |
traced each person in the footage and it turned out that the mother- | 0:09:19 | 0:09:23 | |
in-law had, incredibly, managed to survive. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:27 | |
TRANSLATION: I tried to run after them, but my legs were shaky, and I | 0:09:27 | 0:09:32 | |
lost my shoes. Then I felt my feet off the ground and my body float on | 0:09:32 | 0:09:41 | |
the waves. I could see a roof of a house coming towards me. I was | 0:09:41 | 0:09:47 | |
swept away by the waves and ended up on the roof. The roof slips | 0:09:47 | 0:09:52 | |
beneath her, raising her out of the water and floating her to safety. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:57 | |
TRANSLATION: As I've lived a long time, I must have done something | 0:09:57 | 0:10:07 | |
0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | ||
good in my life. I'd like to think so. After saving several pensioners, | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
Mr Sasaki begins searching for his own wife. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:19 | |
TRANSLATION: I didn't know where she was. I'd searched for her in | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
the rubble, but she must have been forced back to where she worked by | 0:10:23 | 0:10:33 | |
0:10:33 | 0:10:34 | ||
the tsunami. She was found trapped between the machines at the bath | 0:10:34 | 0:10:44 | |
0:10:44 | 0:10:47 | ||
house where she worked. When they found her, I went to where our | 0:10:47 | 0:10:54 | |
eldest, a 12-year-old son, had been evacuated. I told him how his | 0:10:54 | 0:11:04 | |
0:11:04 | 0:11:18 | ||
that she'd died while trying to get people out. With my daughter, | 0:11:18 | 0:11:28 | |
0:11:28 | 0:11:37 | ||
though, I have to say, I couldn't residents were left dead. 19 | 0:11:37 | 0:11:46 | |
survived, but even now, six months on, one is still missing. The town | 0:11:46 | 0:11:51 | |
of Minami Sanriku, once a bustling port, had been transformed into | 0:11:51 | 0:12:01 | |
0:12:01 | 0:12:01 | ||
this. It's a wasteland. This was the emergency centre which | 0:12:01 | 0:12:05 | |
broadcast warnings across town that a snaum y was on its way. -- | 0:12:05 | 0:12:15 | |
0:12:15 | 0:12:15 | ||
tsunami was on its way. All that's left of the building now is its | 0:12:16 | 0:12:19 | |
iron shell, but the woman's ghostly voice is still remembered by the | 0:12:19 | 0:12:27 | |
hundreds she helped save. The woman behind the microphone continued | 0:12:27 | 0:12:32 | |
immoring the local population to evacuate their homing, as the sea | 0:12:32 | 0:12:34 | |
water surged through the ground floor and began to climb through | 0:12:34 | 0:12:40 | |
the other floors. She would have known, of course, that her chance | 0:12:40 | 0:12:45 | |
of survival was diminishing all the time. This was an act of self- | 0:12:45 | 0:12:53 | |
sacrifice. Her name was Miki Endo. She was 24 | 0:12:53 | 0:13:01 | |
years old and recently married. Miki Endo has become a symbol of | 0:13:01 | 0:13:05 | |
the Japanese spirit in all of this, putting her community before | 0:13:05 | 0:13:14 | |
herself. Her colleagues, who survived, had to shin up the aerial | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
on the roof of the four storey building. They were still clinging | 0:13:17 | 0:13:27 | |
0:13:27 | 0:13:28 | ||
on as the wave receded. In the town's hospital, only the fifth | 0:13:28 | 0:13:32 | |
storey remained above water, but there just wasn't enough time for | 0:13:32 | 0:13:37 | |
patients on the lower floors to clam boar up there. Out of 107 of | 0:13:37 | 0:13:47 | |
0:13:47 | 0:13:52 | ||
them, 71 died. (climor) -- (clamour) Even those who managed to | 0:13:52 | 0:13:56 | |
get to a vehicle, there were no guarantees. The roads out of low- | 0:13:56 | 0:14:02 | |
lying areas were jammed. The choice, abandon your car or | 0:14:02 | 0:14:08 | |
hope it would float you to safe. Many of these drivers did the | 0:14:08 | 0:14:18 | |
0:14:18 | 0:14:20 | ||
latter, and drowned. But elsewhere, there were remark yapbl stories of | 0:14:20 | 0:14:25 | |
survival. -- remarkable stories of survival. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:29 | |
We headed north towards the tsunami's furthest reaches, through | 0:14:29 | 0:14:34 | |
areas still uninhabitable, where thousands have been moved to | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
evacuation centres, waiting for their towns to be rebuilt. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:48 | |
0:14:48 | 0:14:53 | ||
We were searching for a particular look like any of those people on | 0:14:53 | 0:14:56 | |
the ground are running fast enough to escape, so we have come to the | 0:14:56 | 0:15:06 | |
place where it was filmed to see if there were any survivors. Mrs Akiko | 0:15:06 | 0:15:16 | |
Iwasaki, a local hotelier, was one of those in the video. TRANSLATION: | 0:15:16 | 0:15:21 | |
First, I went up the mountain and got everyone to evacuate. Then she | 0:15:21 | 0:15:24 | |
went back down to warn the others. Mrs Iwasaki took me to the place | 0:15:24 | 0:15:34 | |
0:15:34 | 0:15:38 | ||
where the video was shot. You can see her running with a bag. I was | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
wearing these baggy work trousers and wellington boots, and I was | 0:15:40 | 0:15:45 | |
carrying bags. I ran as fast as I could. She doesn't know how close | 0:15:45 | 0:15:50 | |
the water is until the last moment. You can see the wave pick up the | 0:15:50 | 0:15:56 | |
bus on the left and spin it towards her. A bus had come up beside me. | 0:15:56 | 0:16:00 | |
The bus was there, the wave was there. I was sure we would make it | 0:16:00 | 0:16:05 | |
as I stepped up. But she didn't. Mrs Iwasaki was dragged under. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:11 | |
She's in the water, somewhere beneath the bus. I could see a | 0:16:11 | 0:16:16 | |
faint light from above. So I swung towards it and reached out my hands | 0:16:16 | 0:16:20 | |
and grabbed on, thinking it was a piece of debris. I bumped into the | 0:16:20 | 0:16:25 | |
tyre of that bus. Then I frantically climbed up to the roof. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:30 | |
Then I grabbed on to a bamboo over here on the mountain. "I want to | 0:16:30 | 0:16:37 | |
live. I want to live. I want to live". The water reached the third | 0:16:37 | 0:16:40 | |
floor of the hotel, but she and everyone else in the footage | 0:16:40 | 0:16:50 | |
0:16:50 | 0:17:01 | ||
survived. I think I was protected there was something else to contend | 0:17:01 | 0:17:04 | |
with, an invisible legacy from the nuclear power station on the coast | 0:17:04 | 0:17:14 | |
0:17:14 | 0:17:15 | ||
of Fukushima. Its sea wall was designed to withstand a tsunami up | 0:17:16 | 0:17:25 | |
to five and a half metres. This was twice the height. The flooding | 0:17:25 | 0:17:29 | |
short-circuited cooling pumps. The reactors began dangerously | 0:17:29 | 0:17:36 | |
overheating. We managed to track down one of the nuclear workers on | 0:17:36 | 0:17:44 | |
site at the time. TRANSLATION: Before the disaster happened, I | 0:17:44 | 0:17:47 | |
thought nuclear power was 100% safe. It was precisely what people call | 0:17:47 | 0:17:52 | |
the "safety myth". 25 hours after the quake, pressure in reactor | 0:17:52 | 0:17:59 | |
number 1 built up. Then it exploded. It was the biggest nuclear accident | 0:17:59 | 0:18:09 | |
since Chernobyl, in a country reliant on nuclear power. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
TRANSLATION: When the number 1 reactor exploded, I was in the | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
middle of evacuating from my home to the evacuation centre specified | 0:18:15 | 0:18:20 | |
by the town authorities. I was in the car. As the roads were chock-a- | 0:18:20 | 0:18:27 | |
block, I was in a traffic jam. Cars were hardly moving. He didn't know | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
it, but radiation was already leaking from the plant, and those | 0:18:30 | 0:18:40 | |
stuck in traffic had no protection. TRANSLATION: I am prepared for the | 0:18:40 | 0:18:42 | |
fact that we probably suffered some external and internal radiation | 0:18:42 | 0:18:49 | |
exposure. Ken Togawa and his family now live in a sports centre with | 0:18:49 | 0:18:54 | |
other nuclear evacuees. He has had medical tests, which show he has | 0:18:54 | 0:19:00 | |
been exposed to high doses of radiation. But it's children who | 0:19:00 | 0:19:03 | |
are more vulnerable. His youngest wears a radiation monitor at all | 0:19:03 | 0:19:10 | |
times. He is still unsure how much exposure they have already suffered. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:13 | |
Dangerous levels of radiation are still widespread around the | 0:19:13 | 0:19:18 | |
Fukushima plant. The Government has evacuated all towns and villages in | 0:19:18 | 0:19:22 | |
a 20 kilometre radius. They are still too dangerous to return to, | 0:19:23 | 0:19:27 | |
six months on. The Togawas lived in Namie, well within the exclusion | 0:19:27 | 0:19:37 | |
0:19:37 | 0:19:40 | ||
zone. But today, he and his wife are going back in, just for a | 0:19:40 | 0:19:46 | |
couple of hours. It is all they are allowed. It's an operation being | 0:19:46 | 0:19:50 | |
overseen by the Japanese military, scientists and the Red Cross. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:56 | |
Dozens of other evacuees have also signed up, despite the risks. Under | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
heavy escort, they are bussed through the roadblocks and into the | 0:19:59 | 0:20:09 | |
0:20:09 | 0:20:10 | ||
exclusion zone. Mr Togawa is filming the journey for us. There | 0:20:10 | 0:20:16 | |
is an eerie emptiness. Deserted fields are overgrown and poisoned. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:18 | |
The levels of radiation here are still dangerously high, six months | 0:20:18 | 0:20:25 | |
after the leak. TRANSLATION: When fleeing, we came | 0:20:25 | 0:20:29 | |
just with the clothes on our backs, and we didn't have any of the | 0:20:29 | 0:20:32 | |
things we need. I wanted to go and fetch these things, and that is why | 0:20:32 | 0:20:41 | |
I returned, despite the risk, for the sake of the children. This was | 0:20:41 | 0:20:46 | |
their home. Windows and doors are left open. There is no one here to | 0:20:46 | 0:20:55 | |
loot. Mrs Togawa can be heard calling for the missing cat. It | 0:20:55 | 0:21:02 | |
never comes. Inside, the house is just as they left it after the | 0:21:02 | 0:21:08 | |
earthquake. It may be the last time they come here. These towns could | 0:21:08 | 0:21:18 | |
0:21:18 | 0:21:19 | ||
remain abandoned for generations. All of that has helped turn | 0:21:19 | 0:21:25 | |
Japanese public opinion against nuclear power. Of the country's 54 | 0:21:25 | 0:21:35 | |
0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | ||
reactors, 43 are currently out of operation. But nowhere has touched | 0:21:37 | 0:21:40 | |
the Japanese nation as deeply as the story of a group of | 0:21:40 | 0:21:47 | |
schoolchildren. A mile away from the sea, along the Kitakami River, | 0:21:47 | 0:21:55 | |
is the town of Okawa, with its long iron bridge. There was a junior | 0:21:55 | 0:22:01 | |
school here, right at the heart of the community. This was last year's | 0:22:01 | 0:22:04 | |
sports day. The pupils, aged between six and 12, are lined up | 0:22:04 | 0:22:14 | |
0:22:14 | 0:22:16 | ||
and ready to compete. This was Okawa before 11th March. You can | 0:22:16 | 0:22:26 | |
see the school in the foreground. This was the scene when the wave | 0:22:26 | 0:22:36 | |
0:22:36 | 0:22:42 | ||
receded. The school clocks are frozen at the time the wave hit. We | 0:22:42 | 0:22:46 | |
traced a 12-year-old survivor. He agreed to tell us about what | 0:22:46 | 0:22:55 | |
happened on the day he lost so many friends. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
TRANSLATION: When the earthquake happened, first we all took cover | 0:22:58 | 0:23:04 | |
under our desks. As the shaking gradually got stronger, everyone | 0:23:04 | 0:23:13 | |
said things like "wow, it's big. You OK?", looking very worried. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:15 | |
When the shaking stopped, the teacher straightaway said "we will | 0:23:15 | 0:23:19 | |
go to the gymnasium, so follow me outside", so we all put on our | 0:23:19 | 0:23:29 | |
0:23:29 | 0:23:29 | ||
helmets and went out. Tetsuya's mum rushed to the school to pick up her | 0:23:29 | 0:23:37 | |
children and drive them to higher ground. When she arrived at the | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
school, it seemed that she actually wanted to flee with me to higher | 0:23:40 | 0:23:44 | |
ground, but as all the parents and guardians were lining up, she said | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
"wait a minute, I need to fetch something from home", so I just | 0:23:47 | 0:23:57 | |
0:23:57 | 0:23:58 | ||
handed over my bags to her and stayed there. They lived just down | 0:23:58 | 0:24:03 | |
the road. His mother hoped to be back in a matter of minutes. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:05 | |
Immediately after the quake, the children were brought outside here | 0:24:05 | 0:24:09 | |
and made to sit down in lines, and then some teachers said "it's not | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
safe enough, we need to evacuate right up the hillside", and others | 0:24:12 | 0:24:21 | |
said "this is high enough, we don't need to go anywhere else". That | 0:24:21 | 0:24:24 | |
debate went on for about 40 minutes. Unknown to them, the tsunami was | 0:24:24 | 0:24:28 | |
close. It didn't need the river to carry it. It was travelling across | 0:24:28 | 0:24:33 | |
land. Another parent wanted to pick up her daughter, but was trapped at | 0:24:33 | 0:24:36 | |
home. It was only later that she learnt what happened to the | 0:24:36 | 0:24:46 | |
children between the quake and tsunami. TRANSLATION: During the | 0:24:46 | 0:24:48 | |
entire 40 minutes that followed the earthquake, the children were just | 0:24:48 | 0:24:52 | |
sitting there, crying in the playground. After 40 minutes, some | 0:24:52 | 0:24:54 | |
of the teachers finally decided to move the children to slightly | 0:24:54 | 0:25:04 | |
0:25:04 | 0:25:05 | ||
higher ground, over there by the bridge. But the decision was too | 0:25:05 | 0:25:07 | |
late. As the children walked towards the bridge, the tsunami | 0:25:07 | 0:25:13 | |
came straight at them. When it hit me, it felt like a huge | 0:25:13 | 0:25:20 | |
gravitational pull, like someone with great strength pushing. I | 0:25:20 | 0:25:26 | |
couldn't breathe. I was struggling for breath. Tetsuya was thrown | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
against this hillside, buried up to his waist in mud and trapped | 0:25:29 | 0:25:36 | |
beneath a broken branch. When I called for help, somebody shouted | 0:25:36 | 0:25:43 | |
"where are you, Tetsuya?", so I said "in the mountain". Then they | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
dug for me and then somehow, with my own strength, I squirmed upwards | 0:25:46 | 0:25:54 | |
and was saved. Tetsuya's little sister, Mina, was drowned. His | 0:25:54 | 0:25:59 | |
mother, who had rushed home, never made it back to school. Her body | 0:25:59 | 0:26:08 | |
was found three weeks later. Out of 108 pupils at the school, 74 lost | 0:26:08 | 0:26:18 | |
their lives. Naomi's 12-year-old daughter was one of them. Koharu | 0:26:18 | 0:26:23 | |
had been due to graduate the following week. After five months | 0:26:23 | 0:26:29 | |
of searching, her body still had not been found. I realised that if | 0:26:29 | 0:26:32 | |
the authorities stopped searching, we would have to do it ourselves, | 0:26:32 | 0:26:35 | |
because there was no way we could give up until our children were | 0:26:35 | 0:26:45 | |
0:26:45 | 0:26:47 | ||
found. I just wanted to find her with my own hands, to do whatever I | 0:26:47 | 0:26:51 | |
could. I heard that if I could get a heavy equipment licence, they | 0:26:51 | 0:27:01 | |
0:27:01 | 0:27:18 | ||
might lend us another machine to daughter, but also to do something | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
to help find the other five children and a teacher who were | 0:27:21 | 0:27:31 | |
0:27:31 | 0:27:34 | ||
still missing, so that is why I got my licence. It was in August that | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
Koharu's body was finally found, not by Naomi's digger, but on a | 0:27:37 | 0:27:47 | |
0:27:47 | 0:27:48 | ||
beach seven miles from the school. A week later, Japan held its annual | 0:27:48 | 0:27:55 | |
ceremony for the dead, the Obon Festival. This year, a nation was | 0:27:55 | 0:28:02 | |
united in grief. Naomi, with the rest of her family, launched a | 0:28:02 | 0:28:10 | |
lantern for the spirit of her daughter, Koharu. Another 5000 | 0:28:10 | 0:28:20 | |
0:28:20 | 0:28:26 |