Tiny Miracle in Japan: 4 month baby girl plucked from rubble after 3 days re-united with dad

In the midst of all the devastation happening in Japan, there are good things going on that are not being reported.

This story is one of many among the ruins.

Daily Mail reports the sound of a baby’s cry amid the rubble seemed so impossible that soldiers searching a tsunami-smashed village dismissed it as a mistake.

But it came again. And they realised they had not been hearing things.

They pulled away wood and slate, dug back thick oozing mud – and there was the child they were to describe as a ‘tiny miracle’.

The four-month-old girl had been swept from her parents’ arms in the shattered village of Ishinomaki when the deadly wave crashed into the family home.

For three days, the child’s frantic family had believed she was lost to them for ever.

But yesterday, for a brief moment, the horrors of the disaster were brightened by one helpless baby’s story of survival.

Soldiers from the Japanese Defence Force had been going from door to door pulling bodies from the devastated homes in Ishinomaki, a coastal town northeast of Sendai.

Most of the victims were elderly, unable to escape the destructive black tide.

But for this precious moment, at least, it was only the child who mattered to the team of civil defence troops who found her.

One of them picked her up in his arms, wrapped her in a blanket which had been handed to him and cradled the child as his colleagues crowded around, not believing that someone as young as this had survived when all hope had been lost.

The tiniest survivor was cold and wet and crying, but she is believed to have suffered no other injuries.

Why she did not drown remained a mystery.

But the soldiers were somehow able to trace her overjoyed father, who had been taking refuge in his wrecked home with the rest of his family.

Even then, the nightmare wasn’t over. For just minutes after the emotional reunion, the shell-shocked survivors were told that a second tsunami might be on its way.

The panicked father begged the soldiers to take the baby to safety on higher ground.

But the 11am alarm proved to be false and the reunited family returned to try and rebuild their home.

Amid the devastation, there have been precious few tales of survival.

More details here

God be praised!

Oh No! Volcamo erupts in Japan sending ashe and rocks 2 ½ miles in the sky

How many natural disaster can one nation take?

I feel terrible for the people of Japan. Hopefully, everything will work out. But, it’s really challenging over there right now. If I remebrer high school geoloby, volcano eruptions can result in more land mass for Japan. Hmm, maybe that’s needed in Japan’s future?

TimesLive reports it was not immediately clear if the eruption was a direct result of the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that rocked northern areas Friday, unleashing a fierce tsunami and sparking fears that more than 10,000 may have been killed.

The 1,421-metre (4,689-feet) Shinmoedake volcano in the Kirishima range saw its first major eruption for 52 years in January. There had not been any major activity at the site since March 1.

Authorities have maintained a volcano warning at a level of three out of five, restricting access to the entire mountain.

In April last year, the eruption of the Eyjafjoell volcano in Iceland dispersed a vast cloud of ash, triggering a huge shutdown of airspace that affected more than 100,000 flights and eight million passengers.



Memeorandum

Dramatic newly released Video: Massive Tsunami hits Northeastern Japan

UK Telegraph reports that dramatic video footage shows the moment the massive tsunami tore through northeastern Japan, swallowing everything in its path and dragging, ships, cars and houses out to sea.

In Miyako city, in Iwate prefecture, tsunami waves barrelled into a narrow bay, sending water surging over an embankment and hurling ships in to buildings.

Houses, cars, trees and anything else that stood in the way was churned up and became part of the advancing morass, adding to its destructive power as it moved hundreds of yards inland

The 30 foot high tsunami was triggered by an offshore earthquake of a magnitude 8.9 and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks.