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Tsunami: The Survivors' Stories

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Remarkable pictures of one of the most destructive earthquakes the

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world's ever seen. This was East Coast Japan just six months ago.

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TRANSLATION: There was such a terrible shaking, that even if you

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grabbed hold of something, things were being thrown onto the flor. --

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floor. TRANSLATION: When the earthquake

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happened, we all took cover under our desks. After the quake, they

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knew what would happen next, but no-one could have anticipated the

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scale of it. Tonight, we follow the tsunami

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which killed thousands and rocked the world's third largest economy.

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And we track down those swept away by the wave, who, miraculously,

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managed to survive. TRANSLATION: A mass of pitch

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Blackwater was writhing like a living thing.

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TRANSLATION: When it hit me, it felt like a huge gravitational pull.

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I couldn't breathe. I was Central Tokyo feels like it

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normally does. I've report -- reported from here before. Perhaps

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there are fewer lights this time, that's all. They're trying to

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conserve electricity. The quake was felt here, but its epicentre was

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200 miles away off the north-east coast of Japan. We spent three

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weeks travelling the disaster zone. 112,000 buildings destroyed, 20,000

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people dead and missing, all in a matter of minutes. This is the

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story of how Japan has coped with destruction and loss of life on a

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scale it hasn't endured since the Second World War. It begins here in

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Hakodate city, on an island in the far north of Japan. We met the crew

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of a coastguard ship, who were some of the first to see the tsunami

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coming. Six months ago, on the morning of March 11, they dropped

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anchor in a port on the East Coast TRANSLATION: There was a very loud

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rumbling from the ground and together with that there was a big,

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big extremely violent quake that shook this boat up and down and

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left and right. Seeing the size of the earthquake and the backwash, I

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was certain there would be a tsunami. But instead of abandoning

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ship, they set out from the port to meet the tsunami head on.

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TRANSLATION: I gave the order to get to as deep water as possible,

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to get off shore as fast as possible. On the radar appeared a

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thick white line, moving towards them. If they'd stayed in port, the

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boat would have been wrecked. This way, at least they had a chance.

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TRANSLATION: In front of the boat, at a height of 10 to 15 metres,

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there was a high wall, an overwhelming wall of water. We were

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heading for something just like the It passes safely beneath them, but

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the destruction is just about to There are several tsunamis,

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stretching 200 miles and travelling at speeds of up to 370mph. At

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thaeproch the north-east coast, they slow, but damager in height.

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The resort of Minami Sanriku lay in their path. It was a town of 18,000

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people, famed for its oyster fishing and ocean views.

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This was the satellite shot before the tsunami hit. This is how it was

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transformed, 95% of its buildings High on a hillside, where it was

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judged no tsunami could ever reach, is a pensioners' home. Among its

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deb ree, we found this video of some of the 68 residents who used

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to live here. Helping one of them is Kango Sasaki,

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one of the staff. His wife used to work here too, next door, in the

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day centre. After the quake, canningo went outside to inspect

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the -- kango went outside. From here I could see incredible disgust

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rising up from over there. The trees and houses were just being

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mown down. I was sure at the rate, it was going to reach us.

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He and his wife rush back in to begin the evacuation. But with 68

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immobile pensioners and just minutes to spare, where do you

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start? TRANSLATION: I came in here and

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stood shouting "evacuate", just yelling it out. I then took hold of

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the person, the gentleman in the wheelchair, right in front of me,

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and went straight outside, right the way through this park area with

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the wheelchair rattling away, heading for the high school at the

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top. I just kept going in a straight line. He doesn't look back.

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The tsunami has already consumed half the town, hundreds are dead

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and it's still advancing. TRANSLATION: I couldn't get any

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farther up than this. So I called a fellow member of staff over and we

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carried him up towards the higher ground at the high school. Right

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the way up there. You can see Kengo in the bottom

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left of screen, the wave surging behind him. He returns again to

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rescue more, before escaping himself up the hill.

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Others weren't so lucky. The man in black, raced down to rescue another

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wheelchair user, there's a sudden wheelchair user, there's a sudden

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surge of water and he's swept away. This is the place from where they

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took that video. The coastline is about half a mile in that direction.

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And the place was standing something like 50 feet above sea

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level, yet still, the tsunami came roaring up this hillside.

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Still down there, a group of women are running for their lives.

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One of them is Kuniko Suzuki. Just ahead of her is her daughter in law

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Mayumi. TRANSLATION: I wanted to run away

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with her. But mother-in-law's legs are bad. She told me, "You go on

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ahead." I couldn't leave her behind. But at the same time, she must have

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made her decision to push me and say, "Go quickly." I just thought

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"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." That's why I kept crying out "grandma,

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grandma." On the far right of the screen, you can see her mother-in-

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law, trying to outrun the tsunami, but she's soon swept away. We

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traced each person in the footage and it turned out that the mother-

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in-law had, incredibly, managed to survive.

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TRANSLATION: I tried to run after them, but my legs were shaky, and I

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lost my shoes. Then I felt my feet off the ground and my body float on

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the waves. I could see a roof of a house coming towards me. I was

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swept away by the waves and ended up on the roof. The roof slips

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beneath her, raising her out of the water and floating her to safety.

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TRANSLATION: As I've lived a long time, I must have done something

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good in my life. I'd like to think so. After saving several pensioners,

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Mr Sasaki begins searching for his own wife.

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TRANSLATION: I didn't know where she was. I'd searched for her in

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the rubble, but she must have been forced back to where she worked by

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the tsunami. She was found trapped between the machines at the bath

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house where she worked. When they found her, I went to where our

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eldest, a 12-year-old son, had been evacuated. I told him how his

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that she'd died while trying to get people out. With my daughter,

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though, I have to say, I couldn't residents were left dead. 19

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survived, but even now, six months on, one is still missing. The town

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of Minami Sanriku, once a bustling port, had been transformed into

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this. It's a wasteland. This was the emergency centre which

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broadcast warnings across town that a snaum y was on its way. --

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tsunami was on its way. All that's left of the building now is its

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iron shell, but the woman's ghostly voice is still remembered by the

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hundreds she helped save. The woman behind the microphone continued

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immoring the local population to evacuate their homing, as the sea

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water surged through the ground floor and began to climb through

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the other floors. She would have known, of course, that her chance

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of survival was diminishing all the time. This was an act of self-

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sacrifice. Her name was Miki Endo. She was 24

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years old and recently married. Miki Endo has become a symbol of

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the Japanese spirit in all of this, putting her community before

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herself. Her colleagues, who survived, had to shin up the aerial

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on the roof of the four storey building. They were still clinging

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on as the wave receded. In the town's hospital, only the fifth

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storey remained above water, but there just wasn't enough time for

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patients on the lower floors to clam boar up there. Out of 107 of

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them, 71 died. (climor) -- (clamour) Even those who managed to

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get to a vehicle, there were no guarantees. The roads out of low-

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lying areas were jammed. The choice, abandon your car or

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hope it would float you to safe. Many of these drivers did the

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latter, and drowned. But elsewhere, there were remark yapbl stories of

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survival. -- remarkable stories of survival.

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We headed north towards the tsunami's furthest reaches, through

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areas still uninhabitable, where thousands have been moved to

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evacuation centres, waiting for their towns to be rebuilt.

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We were searching for a particular look like any of those people on

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the ground are running fast enough to escape, so we have come to the

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place where it was filmed to see if there were any survivors. Mrs Akiko

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Iwasaki, a local hotelier, was one of those in the video. TRANSLATION:

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First, I went up the mountain and got everyone to evacuate. Then she

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went back down to warn the others. Mrs Iwasaki took me to the place

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where the video was shot. You can see her running with a bag. I was

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wearing these baggy work trousers and wellington boots, and I was

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carrying bags. I ran as fast as I could. She doesn't know how close

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the water is until the last moment. You can see the wave pick up the

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bus on the left and spin it towards her. A bus had come up beside me.

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The bus was there, the wave was there. I was sure we would make it

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as I stepped up. But she didn't. Mrs Iwasaki was dragged under.

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She's in the water, somewhere beneath the bus. I could see a

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faint light from above. So I swung towards it and reached out my hands

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and grabbed on, thinking it was a piece of debris. I bumped into the

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tyre of that bus. Then I frantically climbed up to the roof.

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Then I grabbed on to a bamboo over here on the mountain. "I want to

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live. I want to live. I want to live". The water reached the third

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floor of the hotel, but she and everyone else in the footage

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survived. I think I was protected there was something else to contend

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with, an invisible legacy from the nuclear power station on the coast

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of Fukushima. Its sea wall was designed to withstand a tsunami up

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to five and a half metres. This was twice the height. The flooding

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short-circuited cooling pumps. The reactors began dangerously

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overheating. We managed to track down one of the nuclear workers on

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site at the time. TRANSLATION: Before the disaster happened, I

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thought nuclear power was 100% safe. It was precisely what people call

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the "safety myth". 25 hours after the quake, pressure in reactor

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number 1 built up. Then it exploded. It was the biggest nuclear accident

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since Chernobyl, in a country reliant on nuclear power.

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TRANSLATION: When the number 1 reactor exploded, I was in the

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middle of evacuating from my home to the evacuation centre specified

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by the town authorities. I was in the car. As the roads were chock-a-

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block, I was in a traffic jam. Cars were hardly moving. He didn't know

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it, but radiation was already leaking from the plant, and those

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stuck in traffic had no protection. TRANSLATION: I am prepared for the

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fact that we probably suffered some external and internal radiation

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exposure. Ken Togawa and his family now live in a sports centre with

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other nuclear evacuees. He has had medical tests, which show he has

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been exposed to high doses of radiation. But it's children who

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are more vulnerable. His youngest wears a radiation monitor at all

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times. He is still unsure how much exposure they have already suffered.

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Dangerous levels of radiation are still widespread around the

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Fukushima plant. The Government has evacuated all towns and villages in

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a 20 kilometre radius. They are still too dangerous to return to,

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six months on. The Togawas lived in Namie, well within the exclusion

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zone. But today, he and his wife are going back in, just for a

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couple of hours. It is all they are allowed. It's an operation being

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overseen by the Japanese military, scientists and the Red Cross.

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Dozens of other evacuees have also signed up, despite the risks. Under

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heavy escort, they are bussed through the roadblocks and into the

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exclusion zone. Mr Togawa is filming the journey for us. There

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is an eerie emptiness. Deserted fields are overgrown and poisoned.

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The levels of radiation here are still dangerously high, six months

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after the leak. TRANSLATION: When fleeing, we came

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just with the clothes on our backs, and we didn't have any of the

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things we need. I wanted to go and fetch these things, and that is why

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I returned, despite the risk, for the sake of the children. This was

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their home. Windows and doors are left open. There is no one here to

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loot. Mrs Togawa can be heard calling for the missing cat. It

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never comes. Inside, the house is just as they left it after the

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earthquake. It may be the last time they come here. These towns could

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remain abandoned for generations. All of that has helped turn

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Japanese public opinion against nuclear power. Of the country's 54

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reactors, 43 are currently out of operation. But nowhere has touched

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the Japanese nation as deeply as the story of a group of

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schoolchildren. A mile away from the sea, along the Kitakami River,

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is the town of Okawa, with its long iron bridge. There was a junior

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school here, right at the heart of the community. This was last year's

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sports day. The pupils, aged between six and 12, are lined up

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and ready to compete. This was Okawa before 11th March. You can

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see the school in the foreground. This was the scene when the wave

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receded. The school clocks are frozen at the time the wave hit. We

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traced a 12-year-old survivor. He agreed to tell us about what

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happened on the day he lost so many friends.

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TRANSLATION: When the earthquake happened, first we all took cover

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under our desks. As the shaking gradually got stronger, everyone

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said things like "wow, it's big. You OK?", looking very worried.

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When the shaking stopped, the teacher straightaway said "we will

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go to the gymnasium, so follow me outside", so we all put on our

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helmets and went out. Tetsuya's mum rushed to the school to pick up her

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children and drive them to higher ground. When she arrived at the

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school, it seemed that she actually wanted to flee with me to higher

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ground, but as all the parents and guardians were lining up, she said

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"wait a minute, I need to fetch something from home", so I just

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handed over my bags to her and stayed there. They lived just down

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the road. His mother hoped to be back in a matter of minutes.

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Immediately after the quake, the children were brought outside here

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and made to sit down in lines, and then some teachers said "it's not

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safe enough, we need to evacuate right up the hillside", and others

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said "this is high enough, we don't need to go anywhere else". That

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debate went on for about 40 minutes. Unknown to them, the tsunami was

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close. It didn't need the river to carry it. It was travelling across

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land. Another parent wanted to pick up her daughter, but was trapped at

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home. It was only later that she learnt what happened to the

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children between the quake and tsunami. TRANSLATION: During the

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entire 40 minutes that followed the earthquake, the children were just

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sitting there, crying in the playground. After 40 minutes, some

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of the teachers finally decided to move the children to slightly

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higher ground, over there by the bridge. But the decision was too

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late. As the children walked towards the bridge, the tsunami

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came straight at them. When it hit me, it felt like a huge

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gravitational pull, like someone with great strength pushing. I

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couldn't breathe. I was struggling for breath. Tetsuya was thrown

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against this hillside, buried up to his waist in mud and trapped

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beneath a broken branch. When I called for help, somebody shouted

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"where are you, Tetsuya?", so I said "in the mountain". Then they

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dug for me and then somehow, with my own strength, I squirmed upwards

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and was saved. Tetsuya's little sister, Mina, was drowned. His

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mother, who had rushed home, never made it back to school. Her body

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was found three weeks later. Out of 108 pupils at the school, 74 lost

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their lives. Naomi's 12-year-old daughter was one of them. Koharu

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had been due to graduate the following week. After five months

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of searching, her body still had not been found. I realised that if

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the authorities stopped searching, we would have to do it ourselves,

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because there was no way we could give up until our children were

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found. I just wanted to find her with my own hands, to do whatever I

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could. I heard that if I could get a heavy equipment licence, they

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might lend us another machine to daughter, but also to do something

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to help find the other five children and a teacher who were

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still missing, so that is why I got my licence. It was in August that

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Koharu's body was finally found, not by Naomi's digger, but on a

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beach seven miles from the school. A week later, Japan held its annual

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ceremony for the dead, the Obon Festival. This year, a nation was

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united in grief. Naomi, with the rest of her family, launched a

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lantern for the spirit of her daughter, Koharu. Another 5000

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