1.
SV PAN.. Damaged fishing boats washed inland.
0.05

2.
GV Ship washed up again.
0.10

3.
LV Boat washed ashore.
0.15

4.
CU PAN.. From damaged ship to others.
0.20

5.
GV PAN.. Wrecked houses, people clearing rubble.
0.28

6.
CU PAN.. From rubble to wrecked building.
0.34

7.
GV Wrecked house.
0.37

8.
SV PAN.. People clearing rubble from shop fronts.
0.40

9.
GV People clearing rubble from street.
0.43

10.
SV People clearing rubble from street.
0.50

11.
GV Women washing clothes.
0.53

12.
GV Boats washed ashore in background, people walking in foreground.
0.57



Initials TDH/S/AW/AS


EDITOR PLEASE NOTE: Prod. No. 3463 also refers.

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Gigantic tidal waves -- resulting from the devastating Chilean earthquake -- struck the entire eastern coast of Japan in the early hours of May 24. Towns and villages along hundreds of miles of coastline were completely engulfed when 30-ft high waves came crashing down as the inhabitants slept. Havoc was greatest in the Tohoku district of Northern Honshu.

Sweeping across the Pacific Ocean as an aftermath to the three days of earthquakes suffered by Chile and South America, the watery onslaught reached Japan at dawn May 24, after having caused widespread disaster in the Hawaiian islands, New Zealand, Australia, Polynesia, the Philippines and Formosa.

800 are feared dead, and 150,000 have been rendered homeless These figures continue to rise as reports come in from areas with destroyed communication system. Railway communications in the area are completely disrupted.

Emergency disaster relief laws were invoked in Hokkaido and Mie Prefecture, and the Tokyo headquarters of the Japanese Red Cross society has mobilized all resources to aid the victims. Japanese military units have been drafted into Hokkaido, Ise Bay and other towns of the Tohoku district.