look all around me. the sweep of this is incredible. it came off the inlet within minutes and destroyed everything for as far as you can see. some local residents who escaped are back. they seemed still in shock as they start to pick through their homes. i spoke with yasuko. describe how you feel about what this has done to your home, to your town. >> translator: during my 75 years life, i was very upset. i was very scared. >> reporter: but in some cases people exhibit almost unfathomable behavior, combing through homes that aren't there. doing menial tasks, seemingly just to maintain their sanity. in the midst of this carnage, what good could it do to shovel small clumps of debris from one side of a walkway to the other? just a few feet away, one visitor isn't surprised.