The stories currently coming out of Japan are heart wrenching. We're all watching from the sidelines as the death toll rises and a potential nuclear crisis unfolds. But against all odds, there are some incredible survival stories making the news after this historic earthquake.
The Toronto Star has reported on the story of a 4 month old baby that went missing for four days after her village was destroyed by the giant tsunami wave. A soldier found her unharmed in a fuzzy pink jacket and carried her to safety.
And then there was 42 year old Emiko Chiba who was driving her small Suzuki through the hills of northern Japan when the massive tsunami wave threw her car into the air.
According to the story, the black wall of water shot her into the air and then carried her into the path of destruction. The water lifted up the car, said Emikos husband, Kazahiro, who was working in a nearby village when the tsunami hit. She cant remember how long she was in the air. Its like a bad dream. A nightmare. Her memory is all black. After her car finally landed she walked an hour to safety. Amazingly, Emiko is alive.
Watch These Tales of Survival and Stories of Hope
With the list of evacuees posted at local shelters, survivors are desperately looking for family and friends.
This resilient couple who's home was hit by both the quake and the tsunami wave that followed wants to get their home cleaned up so they can hurry up and help others. Ann Curry put it so well. "Find[ing] human strength against even these great odds," According to Curry, the Japanese are working to deal with a crisis water supply but boiling snow they trucked down from nearby mountains and by carving their own chopsticks from bamboo.
Here's an account of the shear magnitude of the quake and the grace of a people
The words of quake survivor and reporter Aaron Lace, "Japan is one of the best prepared countries on Planet Earth. This is an 8.8 or 8.9 magnitude earthquake, which was immense and it went on for what seemed like an eternity.... There has been no loss of law or order, no loss of any kind of civilized decorum of a people. It has been something exemplary and something that Japanese people as a people should be proud of forever."
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