ISHINOMAKI, JAPAN— If Hideaki Akaiwa’s wife asks him years from now if he still loves her, he’ll have a ready-made answer: Remember that time I put on a wetsuit, slipped into ice-cold black water, navigated broken glass, downed power lines and splintered timber, and spent days searching for you after the tsunami?

Akaiwa, 43, was away from home on Friday afternoon when a massive earthquake that lasted for four minutes rocked much of the coast. Thirty minutes after the ground stopped shaking, a tsunami swept up from the sea through Akaiwa’s hometown of Ishinomaki, killing hundreds and leaving homes submerged in up to 4 metres of wreckage-filled water.

Naturally, Akaiwa’s first thoughts were for his wife and mother. The tsunami struck at 2:46 p.m. and he had no idea where they might have been that afternoon.

When he reached the ravaged city of 162,000, it was a widespread disaster zone. Most houses were swamped in water and broken rubble stretched across the horizon.

Akaiwa sprang into action.

The avid sportsman — he met his wife 20 years ago surfing in a local bay — he looked emotionally and physically spent. He had a large backpack slung over his shoulders and wore a purple sweatshirt with camouflage work gloves and pants, which were wrapped with plastic bags secured by orange duct tape.

As he spoke, military trucks drove by and residents wearing rubber boots and soaked pants in the chilly afternoon air waded through flooded streets with bottles of drinking water. Soldiers here don’t walk through the streets so much as jog, knowing that elderly people who have been left alone for four or five days, some in freezing water, are probably near death.

As Japan’s military struggles to cope with the overwhelming job of rescuing tens of thousands of tsunami and earthquake victims, residents here like Akaiwa aren’t waiting for relief workers to arrive, especially considering Ishinomaki’s large elderly population. So locals are springing into action, commandeering boats and other equipment to locate and rescue their friends, family and neighbours.

Akaiwa found his wife on Saturday and a visitor remarked the reunion must have been an emotional one.

“She is very important for me,” Akaiwa said, advising an interpreter he wasn’t interested in answering more questions on the matter.

After his found his wife, it was back into the water to search for his mom.

He found her on Tuesday in her home. This isn’t a big city and that was the first place he thought to look, naturally, but the debris and flooded streets make any movement taxing.

“She was very much panicking,” Akaiwa said. “There were rushing waters all around still and she was trapped in the upper part of her house.”

Even with his family safe, Akaiwa continues to patrol the streets here on the lookout for other desperate tsunami survivors. In his red fanny pack, he carries half a bottle of tea, some water, two packages of cigarettes, a flashlight, Swiss army knife and a lighter.

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“My supplies,” he said before he bounced onto his bike and sped away alongside a friend.

“I have to get back out and keep looking,” he said as he wheeled away.

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