Dramatic Rescue Gives Hope in Japan
March 20, 2011— -- Despite growing fears about Japan's nuclear situation, dramatic video showing the rescue of an 80-year-old woman and her grandson is giving hope to people around the world.
Video released Sunday by Grassroots news TV shows an older woman wrapped in blankets being airlifted above the rubble by helicopter.
In the nine days since the devastating March 11 earthquake, the woman, Sumi Abe, and her grandson, Jin Abe, 16, were unable to pull themselves out of their earthquake-ravaged home and lived off of yogurt stored in their refrigerator, according to reports. The grandson was finally able to flag down rescue workers from the rooftop of their house.
According to The Associated Press, after the pair was taken to the hospital today, Jin's father Akira Abe, told reporters, "I always believed they were alive."
The Associated Press reported Friday that a young man in a different city had been rescued in a home eight days after the earthquake, but that later news reports said he returned after the quake and had only been trapped for one day.
Still, today's story about the woman and her grandson is giving the Japanese people a much-needed dose of hope in an otherwise dire situation.
Japanese officials said today that pressure in reactor 3 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant was rising so sharply that they may consider releasing radioactive steam to relieve the pressure, even though that would cause further contamination.
That setback came just after reports that radiation was detected in some Tokyo water, fava beans exported to Taiwan, spinach and milk. Officials downplayed the risk of the radiation, however, saying that someone would need to drink the water for a year to become exposed to radiation equal to that of a CAT scan.
