Photos reveal tsunami desperation

[jakeXT]

Chilling new photographs show people desperately clinging to a mast on a roof as the Japanese tsunami destroys the building beneath them.

In the combination of three photos, taken by Shinichi Sato amidst the March 11 disaster, survivors cling to an antenna tower and handrails on the roof of the Minamisanriku Government Disaster Readiness Center in Minamisanriku, north-eastern Japan.

About 30 people fled to the roof of the three-storey building and climbed higher as the tsunami rushed in.

Only nine people survived and about 20 were swept to their deaths.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/9136912/photos-reveal-tsunami-desperation/



Lensman braved tsunami

MINAMISANRIKU, Miyagi Pref. (Kyodo) When the municipal disaster prevention building in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, was engulfed by the tsunami on March 11, its officials clinging to the top of the structure, a local photographer captured the drama in a series of pictures.

The photos, made available by Shinichi Sato, show the three-story building completely submerged by the wall of water except for its antenna and rooftop fence, to which Mayor Jin Sato and nine other survivors from the office clung.

Sato, 45, who ran a photo studio in his home until the tsunami hit, captured the scene from an elementary school overlooking the town.

"A tsunami will come," he thought soon after the powerful earthquake struck. He first instructed his family to evacuate, then took his camera and drove to a hilly area where he could see the town below.

..

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110406f3.html

[Bonobo]

1. All right! More disaster porn!

Is this news?

Is this entertainment?

Or is this really... porn?

[Mojorabbit]

2. It is many things incuding history

A documenting of those brave people's experience and a telling their story. It is a warning to those left for the future and for those planning building placement and safety measures when rebuilding starts. I hope you are doing as well as can be. I spent three years in Misawa and remember them very fondly. I am thankful my friends there are ok.

[Poll_Blind]

3. Bonobo, I don't even understand why you felt it necessary to make that comment.

If you're tired of the coverage of the disaster, I can understand. I would just recommend that you avoid material like this. But the implication that on this site, especially, showing photographs of such an enormous tragedy would have an overtone of entertainment is tasteless.

There are a lot of other bits of news vying for the attention of the world right now and the exposing the terrible plight of these victims helps keep it in the forefront of our consciousness.

Their plight may not be so important to you but they are my brothers and sisters on this Earth and what they endured and continue to endure, should be known.

PB

[jakeXT]

4. I wonder if the same accusations could be made against researching 911...

Japan's tsunami 'would have been biggest ever without levee'

* From: AFP
* March 19, 2011 5:35AM

THE tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan was at least 23 metres high, according to a Japanese study.

The Port and Airport Research Institute calculated the height of the massive tsunami in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, the Yomiuri newspaper reports.

Japan's biggest-ever tsunami was recorded at 38.2-metres high in a massive 1896 earthquake.

An official with the institute said that without the coastal levee that did not exist in 1896, last Friday's tsunami was likely to have been the biggest ever to hit Japan.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/japans-tsunami-would-have-been-biggest-ever-without-levee/story-fn3dxity-1226024423072