CNN has a great story on Akiko Kosaka, the Japanese exchange student in California, and the internet search for her family, who were among those affected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the small fishing town of Minamisanriku.
Minamisanriku is only 17,000 people big, and when the quake struck, half the town went missing. Kosaka tried contacting her family, but had little luck. She found out that one sibling was OK, but hadn’t heard from anyone else. After fearing the worst had happened, a friend sent her a link to a YouTube video, in which Kosaka’s older sister was on camera telling the media to inform Akiko that her family is OK. She also saw footage of her house, which was the only one in her neighbourhood to survive the quake. Pretty amazing. For the full story, be sure to check out [CNN] .