New Video: Minami-sanriku tsunami

if it was a wall of fire instead of "oh its only dirty water" I bet they would have been haulin major ass. the average joe doesnt understand the physics of life I guess. if they knew how the glass metal wood makes that water/mud a cheese grater in motion they wouldmt be turing off the lights and getting dressed before leaving.

A very brave man at the very end. Risked himself for someone.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Don't have much to say, brought tears to my eyes.......

Originally posted by Foxy1
if it was a wall of fire instead of "oh its only dirty water" I bet they would have been haulin major ass. the average joe doesnt understand the physics of life I guess. if they knew how the glass metal wood makes that water/mud a cheese grater in motion they wouldmt be turing off the lights and getting dressed before leaving.

You were there too? You actually heard, and translated, where someone specifically said,
"Oh, it's only dirty water."??

As far as I can tell, there is only one portion of your comment that is 100% fact.

Originally posted by Foxy1
I guess.

You really have no legitimate idea, as to what specific reason, caused anyone to not be as fast as others. What do you gain by attempting to make them look foolish? Does it make you feel smarter? Do you think you are better than them?

I can make a guess also, except my guess will not be meant to degrade the unlucky individuals who lost their lives due to this natural disaster.

Maybe the one's up on the hill first, lived closer to the hill.
Maybe the unlucky one's that did not make it in time, lived a bit farther away.

Try to have a bit of class. Give respect to those who have perished.


P.S. If you want to attempt to make yourself appear superior to others, use spell-check.

Very tragic event that happened that day. My first post as I have been a long time lurker, but some of the replies in this thread are rediculous. It goes to show you, that humanity in itself can be ignorant, while watching destruction and devastation onfold before their eyes.

Seriously? Out of everything you seen in that video ... ignorance comes to your mind? That's the only thing that came to your mind? You weren't helpless to these people trying to save their lives? How long do you think you got when a 9.1 hits and shakes you all around? How do you know these people didn't suffer injuries from the quake itself? You do realize it was stated that people had 7-15minutes before the wave hit correct?

Ok, here is the best example I can give you. You were just hit by the 3rd Biggest Earthquake registered since 1900. The very foundation of the house you live in, was shaking violently at your feet. Battered and beaten you finally make it to your feet after checking on how your family is doing. How long before you realize that a Tsunami might be on it's way? After you figure all this out, you are looking at 4-6min to get your mind right. Now if you or family members were injured, how quickly do you think you can make the run from that back porch to the wall to get up on that hill?

You have never been in that situation to make the statement that those people were ignorant. I can't believe this is my first post trying to point out the idiocricy of being a human being. To me, I didn't cry at this video, I didn't question what was taking these people so long to get out of there ... I simply watched, as helpless human beings died. Nothing could have saved them. That's what I thought. There isn't nearly enough preperation for these types of disasters.

May these unfortunate souls find a place in the stars ...

reply to post by Kingfanpaul


The comment was mainly intended to prevent raising concerns/questions about the well-being of our family in Sendai. Given what I've experienced this past month, people are generally nice and express a lot of concern. I hate worrying people.

But yes, what you said is very, very true and greatly appreciated.

Oh my soul shares the pain and the denial at first, that the tsunami would be like others and that everyone would make it out ok.

It just kept rolling in, it passed all boundaries which had before not been broken.

To watch in horror as cars and trucks are swept away, what was once just observing something that soon became more than anyone anticipated.

These people are no stranger to giant waves, but this, this was far beyond anything before experienced.

Bless those brave and courageous souls who were lost that day trying to save others who were trying to run for their lives but were crippled and could not make it up the hill.

It has been weeks now since the tragedy struck, but it is only in time that people can forget, for me there is no such luxury and my heart and soul see's a video like this and I am there on that day, my energy is is NOW and it is in the now that we share our empathy together.

The saddest thing is reading the comments on the video saying that "This is God's wrath" and "God is punishing them for being atheists". Disgusting

reply to post by Steam


I think the total loss of life will be around 70K when they finally figure it all out. Could have been much worse but they seemed pretty well prepared.

Just imagine how bad it would have been if they didnt build alot of there building up to major earthquake code. GUARENTEE would have been much worse anywere else in the world. They will always be in my prayers.

reply to post by DaddyBare

Brilliant find op I enjoyed watching it but have to admit I,d reather them than me.
I.d poo my pants for sure lol s+f for you
Added to post
I never enjoyed it as in fun,just to see what mother nature does best,and also like others av pointed out that people will help you or leave you!hope that guy in blue jacket did get out :-/

Originally posted by NerdGoddess
the last few minutes of this frustrated me.
THE TSUNAMI IS LITERALLY AT YOUR DOOR... and NOW you want to leave?! AND
they werent even like hustling to get up the hill. and the one guy closest to the water is like... swag walking... WITH A TSUNAMI WAVE about to literaly bite him in the ass. D: ughhh!!L!:J!:J!!J
RUNNN!!!! i just kept screaming at my computer RUN YOU FOOL RUN!!!!
I feel horrible for everyone affected by this tragedy.

A word that I have been hearing tossed around more and more around here has been the "Normalcy Bias". The words as to how watching that video made me feel are....indescribable But let THIS video serve as a little reminder as to the "normalcy bias" and how a great deal of people that didn't make it out alive, or even those that barely escaped with their lives probably had thought "Oh tsunami warning again....how many times in the past have we heard that only to be met with a 3 foot wave?" or "Tsunami? Evacuate? Pffft dude look at where WE are located (those that might have been in homes at the foot of the hill), any Tsunami will have to go through ALL THAT before it even reaches us...bah fuggettaboutit"

Tell me....with how 2011 has started out so far...what exactly IS considered to be normal anymore With that said how could anyone afford to be bias? Nah anything is possible these days.

The tsunami would be impressive.

That is it would be if it didn't carry so much tragedy.
It's impressive to watch a town just destroyed like nothing, what other force could just sweep up and carry an entire town like it was nothing?
It's not impressive knowing the lives and homes ruined by such a force.

reply to post by DaddyBare


To note, I've been able to read a portion of the title of the video, in case there was any confusion.

It is a town called Minami-Sanriku.

Originally posted by Slin7
A very brave man at the very end. Risked himself for someone.

Are you refering to the guy running down the steps? If so, it looks like he ran down to help pull people in wheelchairs up the stairs, but he grabs the chair by the wheel & the person in the chair falls out as a result. He then dove in to grab the person & they both get swept in.

reply to post by Miraj


Thanks for the heads up...
I was stationed there for a few years so what little I've picked up is oral... truth is my Hyōjungo sucks
now my wife on the other hand she's fluent

Originally posted by Mortal0blivion

Originally posted by Slin7
A very brave man at the very end. Risked himself for someone.

Are you refering to the guy running down the steps? If so, it looks like he ran down to help pull people in wheelchairs up the stairs, but he grabs the chair by the wheel & the person in the chair falls out as a result. He then dove in to grab the person & they both get swept in.

There were MANY brave people.

I saw a better higher resolution of this video the day of the earthquake on TV. There is also a different version taken from the same area.

What you see going on at the end of the video is not some people trying to rescue their belongings. They are people desperately trying to rescue disabled people in wheel chairs and hospital beds (guernys). There are more of them but they are not shown in this video. They were backed up along a path below the turn up to higher ground. Unfortunately the rescuers got hung up on stairs. Some people went to help them. A couple of people were picked up bodily and carried up the hill. Others stuck behind the bottle neck gave up and turned back just before the wave hit. I doubt they survived but who knows. At the end of this video you see a couple of rescuers get swept away as they are trying to the end to no avail.

There is four story hospital in one of the towns where the staff watched the wave approaching. They did their best to get as many patients as possible to the roof or top floor. Unfortunately many people stuck in their beds from the ground to the 3rd floor could not be saved. One man ran to his car and got a satellite phone which he threw to the people on the roof. They caught the phone but he was swept away.

reply to post by DaddyBare

Couldn't tell you what they were saying mostly. It takes a long time to interpret verbally, but I've had a year of college Japanese and I'm semi fluent.

I can easily look at the kanji and see quite a few familiars, and fill in the rest of the blanks.

It was an amazing and terrifying video. Thanks for posting it.

You also have to reckon that most of that town had not evacuated. Listening to the voices in the background, there were not a lot of people on that hill. I would guess 50, maybe 70 people had made it to safety before that water had simply swept up the town.

I could be wrong, because we never got a view behind the camera, but it sounded like a relatively small group of people to me.

Here's another recent video of the same region by the same poster on youtube...



at the 3:30 mark you'll watch a driver in a vehicle getting swept away by the surge, with people crying in dismay.

VERY VERY disturbing!