MORIOKA--When Masuo Murayama was hovering over the city of Rikuzentakata in a police rescue helicopter on March 11, he felt that the huge earthquake didn't have that much of an impact after all.
MORIOKA--When Masuo Murayama was hovering over the city of Rikuzentakata in a police rescue helicopter on March 11, he felt that the huge earthquake didn't have that much of an impact after all.But the situation changed drastically, and Murayama, who heads the police air unit, found himself shouting helplessly at the tsunami waves heading toward shore, begging them to stop, as he continued to record the unfolding disaster.Iwate prefectural police released a 30-minute aerial video footage that Murayama and his crew took. It shows the tsunami approaching and then swamping two coastal cities."We could not rescue people with our helicopter," said Murayma, 57. "But we were the only ones who were witnessing it."Murayama said the only thing they could do was to record the disaster to show the gravity of the situation to others.When the helicopter reached Rikuzentakata just past 3:15 p.m. on March 11, about after half an hour after the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake rocked the Tohoku region at 2:46 p.m., officers saw people and cars on National Route 45. Within minutes, the blue waves approaching the Bay of Ofunato turned black after crashing over breakwaters. The tsunami then smashed into Ofunato, a city near Rikuzentakata.Murayama said he could not believe what was happening below.When he saw people dashing behind a senior high school building to escape the water, Murayama shouted to the tsunami, "Stop!"The footage was taken by a camera installed on the helicopter as well as the digital cameras used by officers aboard.Murayama is still involved in patrol duties and the aerial search for bodies.He also said he can clearly see from the sky that the lone pine tree that survived the tsunami on Takata Matsubara beach in Rikuzentakata is on the brink of death.The tree is regarded as a symbol of reconstruction for disaster victims because it remained standing while tens of thousands of other pine trees on the beach were swept away.The tree looks like it is watching the survivors who are trying to rebuild their communities, Murayama said.