MINAMISOMA, Fukushima Pref. (Kyodo) A woman screaming as she tries to escape the approaching tsunami. Muddy waves devouring the whole community in seconds. These were the sights remembered as survivors in the tsunami-devastated cities in Fukushima Prefecture looked back on the horror.
As the Saturday morning sun burst onto the coast of Minamisoma, you could not tell the border between the sea and land as the whole town remained submerged. The occasional spots of white concrete foundations were all that remained of the houses washed away in the deadly tsunami.
Mud-soaked residents searched frantically for members of their families unaccounted for since the quake. A 40-year-old woman found the name of her parents — but not the name of her husband — on a list of evacuees posted at the municipal office. "I wish he is safe," she said.