The last samurai - Japanese survivor found a month after the tsunami.

Every now and then details came from Japan regarding people and animals found stranded in remote or deserted villages almost one month after the 9.0 earthquake. Rescue workers, journalists, and people who happened to be in those areas rushed to help those lucky to escape the deadly tremble followed by tsunami but also to inform the world about their deeds.

The latest report of this kind is about a 75 years old Japanese farmer found by a journalist, on Friday, April 8, stranded alone in Minami Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, inside the 20 kilometer radius evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.

He seemed to have locomotor problems and was unaware of his wife’s whereabouts. He was a sort of the last samurai of Minami Soma who fought for his life ever since authorities had ordered evacuations and his neighbors have all fled his city. Rescuers found him surrounded by fallen trees, dead pigs and garbage strewn by the horrifying March 11 tsunami in Japan.

Kunio Shiga mentioned that the tsunami came just a few yards off his doorstep and his only connection with the world was a battery-powered radio he had listened for days in his home with no electricity, running water or heating. Shiga recounted his traumatizing experience, how he had nearly starved, with no electricity or running water and no rescuers ever coming for him. The farmer agreed to be taken to a shelter.

A relatively long list of persons and animals stranded in different places in Japan after the earthquake stirred distrust and rumors that these are fake reports, invented to attract attention and increase mass media audience. Some openly stated that “they do not buy this anymore”.

New powerful 7,1 earthquake strikes Japan, triggering tsunami warning

Initially, the Japanese Meteorological Agency reported it as a 7.4 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter located about 40 km east of Ojika Peninsula (closer to the coast than last month's 9,0 earthquake). Later, U.S. representatives of the Geological Survey have established its magnitude at 7.1 on the Richter scale.

The National Police Agency said there were no reports of casualties from anywhere in the earthquake zone. The earthquake struck on Thursday around 11:30 PM local time (15:30 GMT). The epicenter was almost 50 km deep and about 120 km away from Fukushima, in the Pacific Ocean. Approximately 90 minutes later the tsunami warning has been lifted too.

As a precaution, workers have been evacuated from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, although there have been no reports of damage so far, and it seems the power is still on there.
However, we still have to wait for the workers to return to the power plant in order to know for sure if any new leaks have developed as a result of this new and powerful earthquake. For the moment, the radiation level remains the same.

Japan update: 2 lucky tsunami survivors found after 9 days

Incredibly, rescuers found 2 more survivors on Sunday, 9 days after the tsunami hit!

An 80-year old woman and her 16-year old grandson trapped for over a week under the rubble in their own house, living on yogurt and scraps of food salvaged from a refrigerator and surviving the cold from the snowstorm last week without any electricity. Extremely lucky and resilient - that's how I can describe them!

The will to live made them both strong enough to endure everything nature threw at them. Yesterday, the young man managed to pull himself though a hole in the roof and alert the rescuers nearby. They were both showing signs of hypothermia, but were still conscious and happy to be alive after such an ordeal.

The latest official figures after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan show 8,277 dead and 12,722 missing.