Stranded and alone: The 75-year-old man found ALIVE at his devastated farmhouse four weeks after Japan earthquake and tsunami



F armer discovered sitting in the dark and listening to battery-powered radio as new footage emerges of the tsunami crashing into the Fukushima power plant

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He must have wondered whether he would ever be found. However, farmer Kunio Shiga was discovered alive and well - and sitting among the debris of his home - more than four weeks after an earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan.

The 75-year-old was found with only a battery-powered radio for company, holed up in his small farmhouse which was surrounded by fallen trees, dead pigs and debris from the deadly tsunami on March 11.

It would seem the frail man was found in the nick of time - he had almost run out of food and had long ago lost electricity and running water.

Alive and alone: Kunio Shiga poses for a photograph at his home inside the deserted 20km evacuation zone around the Fukushima nuclear plant

Mr Shiga revealed he did not know where his wife was and that his neighbours fled his home city of Minami Soma, which is within the 12-mile radius of the Fukushima nuclear power plant - which is leaking radiation.

Despite authorities ordering evacuations of the area, Mr Shiga said he could not leave because he has trouble walking.



He told reporters they were the first people he had spoken to since the March 11 quake and revealed he had spent his days sitting in his dark home and listening to a battery-powered radio, waiting for rescuers to find him - but they never came.



Survivor: The 75-year-old farmer spent his days sitting in the dark home and listening to a battery-powered radio after electricity and running water failed after the tsunami

He said: 'The tsunami came right to my doorstep. I don't know what happened to my wife. She was here, but now she's gone.'

Police were notified of Mr Shiga's situation and he was taken to a refuge. But before he left he went seemed reluctant to leave his home, adding: 'I'm old. I don't know if I could leave here. Who would take care of me?'

Japanese authorities have now confirmed that more than 27,000 are dead or missing after the 9.0 magnitude quake caused a massive tsunami which engulfed the north east coast of Japan.

Swallowed up: New footage has emerged of the powerful tsunami crashing into the nuclear power plant. Scroll down for video

Meanwhile, a new video has emerged of the moment the massive tsunami hit the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Footage of the wave shows the water crashing over the sea wall and into the facility, which has since crippled the plant and sparked a radiation crisis. Spray from the wave is seen rising higher than the plant's six reactors.

The footage, released by the Tokyo Electric Power Company, was shot 900-metres south of the plant by a worker who escaped the sites before the tsunami hit.



Devastation: The compound of the Fukushima nuclear power plant just before the tsunami hit (above) and after (bottom)

The company also revealed the wall of water was probably between 14 and 15 metres higher than normal sea levels, easily overwhelming the plant's five-metre sea wall.

The wave knocked out pumps and generators which were used to cool the plant's reactors, leaving engineers battling to stop a further disaster of the radioactive cores from overheating.

As a result of the quake and tsunami, new - and tougher - regulations are to be issued for emergency power stations at nuclear plants.

Destruction: Desks and chairs are strewn across the office Inside the main building of the Fukushima power plant

Deserted: Radiation has been leaking from the Fukushima plant since the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami on March 11

Hidehiko Nishiyama, the chief spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said power stations would be required to have two diesel generators as backup power for each reactor unit. Current regulations require just one generator per unit.

Ground-level pipes between reactor units and radioactive waste treatment facility were being laid by workers in a bid to pump contaminated water that had been building up, according to Sakae Muto the head of the utility's power division.

The company also released pictures of inside the devastated power plant, showing shattered windows, scattered papers and debris throughout facility's the now-empty offices.

Unstable: Japanese reactor maker Toshiba says it could decommission the earthquake-damaged plant in about 10 years - a third quicker than the US Three Mile Island plant

Wiped out: Rubble and debris litter the compound of the Fukushima power plant after the tsunami

The bodies of two workers, killed by the quake and tsunami, were discovered last week in the basement of one of the reactor's turbine plant.

Hundreds of tons of water have been poured into the reactors in a bid to cool them until circulation systems can be restored.