ASAHI, Chiba Pref. — Shortly after the magnitude 9.0 quake hit the Tohoku region on March 11, Noriko Suzuki looked out of her house and saw tsunami coming.

"I felt my body shiver. I've never imagined tsunami would come to this area. I immediately ran toward a higher place, carrying my dog," she said. "I had a car, but I didn't even think about getting in it and starting the engine. I just ran."

Asahi was 360 km from the temblor's epicenter off Miyagi Prefecture.