MINAMI-SANRIKU, Miyagi Prefecture--Half of the population of this seaside community in northeastern Japan are missing, and the town itself appears to have been almost completely destroyed by Friday's violent earthquake and tsunami.
MINAMI-SANRIKU, Miyagi Prefecture--Half of the population of this seaside community in northeastern Japan are missing, and the town itself appears to have been almost completely destroyed by Friday's violent earthquake and tsunami.
Minami-Sanriku had about 18,000 residents before the magnitude 9.0 temblor. More than half of those people are not yet accounted for.
We made our way from the center of the town toward the sea on foot.
There were mountains of debris strewn everywhere, including overturned vehicles, vending machines and the rubble of destroyed homes. A concrete building that appeared to have three stories had been covered in the tide of junk.
Electric wires lay on the ground. There was a strong smell of gas and oil.
We saw several families digging in the wreckage, pulling out clothes, electric pots and other items.
"Are you from a media organization?" called Takehisa Iwabuchi, a 37-year-old town hall employee, after seeing the arm bands identifying us as reporters.
"It looks like the town hall building and the fire department have been completely swallowed up," he said. "Much of the town has been destroyed."
Iwabuchi said he thought 9,000 people had found refuge from the catastrophe, including 3,000 people at Shizugawa elementary school, which is located on higher land, and 1,000 people at a local sports center that has been set up as an emergency center.
Rescuers had been trying without success to find the 9,000 missing people by radio and other means.
"Many shelters are isolated and have no access to information," he said. "The shortage of food is very serious. Please report quickly on the devastation here."
Iwabuchi bowed and hurried to a shelter.
Only 30 out of 110 inpatients at the five-story Shizugawa hospital, which is close to the sea, are known to have survived. According to a female employee of the hospital, staff carried patients on their backs to the third floor of the building immediately after the first shocks on Friday.
About 30 minutes later, a huge tsunami hit the building. Water began filling the third and fourth floors, forcing staff and patients to try to escape to the top floor and the rooftop. Nine patients are confirmed dead. About 70 other inpatients are believed to have been carried off by the water.
Most of the survivors were rescued from the hospital by a Self-Defense Forces helicopter Saturday afternoon. Some managed to reach shelters on foot.
A 35-year-old male employee at the hospital said the town hall and the three-story disaster prevention building had been close by, but had vanished except for small parts of their steel frames.
"Many of the town hall employees fled to the rooftop of the disaster prevention building after the tsunami hit, but the waves went over it," he said.
He said hundreds of elderly people had been attending an event on the third floor of a building near the town hall when the quake hit.
A 75-year-old woman who was present at the event said someone had yelled: "Here comes a tsunami."
Dark waves, carrying trees and parts of houses, burst through the windows on the third floor immediately after the shout.
Senior citizens and others took refuge overnight in a room on the fifth floor where elevator machinery was housed, sharing a single container of fruit juice.
Each person was given a rice ball at about noon on Saturday. Some went back home that afternoon after the water had receded. Others were taken to shelters.
"I think most of people got out, but some people left the event before the quake," the woman said. "I hope they made it."
An officer from the prefectural police said: "The Minami-Sanriku police station, too, was swallowed by the tsunami. We are a long way from getting a clear picture of the scope of the damage."
(This article was written by Narumi Ota and Daisuke Ono.)