Swallowed By The Sea

As Japan continues to experience aftershocks, another piece of surreal footage from the March 11 tsunami surfaces, this time from the city of Kesennuma:

And that wasn't all:

All along this northeast coast, town after town was struck first by the earthquake and then by the tsunami, but [in Kesennuma] there was a third element.

Having been first shaken and then inundated by water, Kesennuma was finally burnt, in a fire kindled by the first two disasters. Large tuna fishing ships in the harbour smashed into one another and caught alight. They were carried by successive waves into neighbourhoods that burnt to the ground after the waters had withdrawn. As the tsunamis rose and then receded, those who survived witnessed an unprecedented sight: the sea overwhelming the land, not only with water, but with fire.

2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan