Sleepy town reels from tsunami devastation

NAKAMINATO, Japan - Takako Koguchi turned 78 on Thursday. On Friday, hours before a planned birthday celebration, she saw a wave of black water coursing through the streets of this small fishing town, heading toward her.

Just 15 minutes had passed since a devastating earthquake rocked Nakaminato and a broad stretch of the northeastern coast.

She rushed to her car and managed to escape before the debris-laden water crumpled one of the walls of her small ryokan, or inn, and left a trail of destruction in this small fishing town. On Saturday, the streets were carpeted with sticky brown mud and stank of the dead fish deposited by one meter of water that had coursed over the roads closest to the ocean.