Town's Aftermath of Killer Tsunami

Since Friday, over 15,000 people have been rescued from the 8.9-magnitude tremor. The earthquake in Japan is the 5th largest earthquake ever recorded. Although many have been saved, there have been 1,598 confirmed deaths and hundreds to thousands left to be discovered. Most buildings were washed away or have fallen leaving only a select few left standing. A boat was carried over 2 miles by the tsunami and sat at the edge of town. When the alarm sounded, most people just began to run in true panic. Some had to leave the elderly and disabled on higher floors as they could not be helped in time. They are thought to have died in result. I couldn't imagine what it would feel like to have to leave someone behind when you were almost sure that they weren't going to make it, let alone being the one left behind. A man identified as Hiromitsu Shinkawa, 60, was rescued off a piece of his rooftop floating in the water. He stood on top with a hand made red flag. He said he held on, but his wife wasn't as lucky. He mentioned that he hadn't thought he was going to live. He was sure no one would see him. Many areas of the town are simply gone. They were completely washed away. People noticed that as they tried to get in front of the tsunami, it was already far ahead.