KAMAISHI, Iwate Prefecture--Kunihiko Kikuchi's parents were at their home when the seawater started rushing in. The 75-year-old father grabbed an object for support and used his other hand to grasp the wrist of his 70-year-old wife.
KAMAISHI, Iwate Prefecture--Kunihiko Kikuchi's parents were at their home when the seawater started rushing in. The 75-year-old father grabbed an object for support and used his other hand to grasp the wrist of his 70-year-old wife.
But the tsunami wave grew in size and strength, lifting the father off the ground. Despite his frantic efforts, his hold on his wife loosened.
"Help me dear! Help!" the mother repeatedly cried before their grip broke, and she was swept away in the wave.
A still-shaken Kikuchi, 40, recounted the terror of Friday's killer earthquake and tsunami to The Asahi Shimbun. Now, he and his father are continuing the search for his mother and his 43-year-old brother, who also went missing in the disaster.
Kikuchi said they found a body in the house, but it was not his mother or brother.
They are not the only ones searching for loved ones amid the wreckage and confusion in this devastated city.
The houses that remain standing are deformed monstrosities. Mounds of rubble and debris spread as far as eye can see after the tsunami swallowed the central part of the city, where Nippon Steel Corp.'s Kamaishi plant and Kamaishi Station are located.
In the downtown area west of the Kamaishi port, cars swept up by the tsunami were left tangled in electric cables and boats tossed about like toys were stranded far inshore.
A mixed odor of light oil and seawater permeated the air. A sense of desperation was also felt in this city of around 40,000.
"I cannot reach my daughter," said Taketo Hiramatsu, a 51-year-old truck driver and resident near Kamaishi port. "We have not heard from her after she left two cellphone messages."
Hiramatsu and his wife, Ayako, were walking on a muddy street Sunday seeking any information about their second daughter, Nozomi.
Nozomi left home around 2:30 p.m. on Friday to go to a post office, the couple said. About 15 minutes later, the Great East Japan Earthquake rocked the area.
Nozomi left voice messages on Ayako's cellphone at 3 and 3:09 p.m., but Ayako was unable to respond, she said.
About 15 minutes later, the tsunami rumbled in. Nozomi has not been heard from since.
"She must have worried about us after the big quake and contacted us," Ayako, 60, said, wiping away tears with her hands in work gloves. "The two messages are still there, but I cannot listen to them because there is no connection."
The parents said they would visit all of the several dozen evacuation centers around the area in the search for their daughter.
The wreckage of the city is hampering rescue efforts. And grim scenes of death are being reported around the city.
"Many others are stuck," said a weary-looking Kazuhisa Fukuchi, 67, who operates a grocery store now littered with onions and apples.
Fukuchi said a 3-meter-high tsunami inundated the shopping area and pushed a commuter bus about 30 meters from a nearby traffic light.
Seven to eight people, including the driver, escaped the water by climbing to the bus roof. Residents threw blankets to them from the second floor of their houses, Fukuchi said.
After the water receded about three hours later, Fukuchi looked inside the bus. He said he saw a woman who looked like she was in her 60s and another person whose gender was difficult to determine.
(This article was written by Toshiyuki Hayashi and Tatsuro Sakata.)