Amazing Japan tsunami video shows child rescue
Eyewitness footage of the tsunami striking Northern Japan and the subsequent scramble to rescue men, women and children from the flooded streets.
Two eye-witness videos have emerged showing just how fast the tsunami struck Japan, and how the rising water levels flooded buildings and stranded people on top of floating islands of debris.
The first video, shot by a local reporter shows the waters arriving as a trickle on the streets of Northern Japan. Following a hurried conversation with his taxi driver, both men flee for the safety of a nearby building.
Their panic is evident and as the climb the stairs the video shows how the trickle has become a raging flood directly behind them.
Having found sanctuary on higher levels, the footage shows the attempts to rescue other survivors stranded on car tops and in the trees using any means to pull them to safety.
One woman is hoisted up by a fire hose and afterwards she breaks down in tears and bows thanking her rescuers saying:
“Thank you, thank you, I thought I was going to die.”
Furthest away from the cameraman a family with young children can be seen – seemingly unable to reach safety. Yet as the day darkens the father and his two children are finally rescued and reach the safety of the building.
The children, clearly distraught, are crying as they are pulled into the building and the father says:
“I am just glad my children were saved.”
A second piece of video shows the waters breaking the sea defences at the small port town of Miyako City in Iwate Prefecture.
The video focuses on a four storey building directly in the brunt of the flood waters.
Initially cars can be seen floating past the building, but as the waters rise the sea floods through the first floor and eventually completely drowns it.