Video : Eye-witness Records Tsunami Destroying Town in Under 7 Minutes
Video
Amateur footage demonstrates the frightening speed with which Friday's tsunami destroyed the city of Kesennuma, Japan.
At first a trickle of water creeps down a street. The stream quickly becomes a torrent as the 33ft-tsunami triggered by Japan's strongest ever earthquake sweeps into the city.
Sirens wail as cars and debris are swept down the street. A few minutes later entire houses are ripped from their foundations.
Standing just 400 yards inland, on concrete steps leading to higher ground, a cameraman captures the destructive power of the wave.
The video is believed to have been shot by a resident of the port city of Kesennuma, which was formerly home to 74,000 people.
Posted March 14, 2011