World News Engine: JAPAN'S TSUNAMI ORPHANS FACE UNCERTAIN FUTURE

JAPAN'S TSUNAMI ORPHANS FACE UNCERTAIN FUTURE

apan (AFP) - Naho Tsuchiya's parents won't be there to wish her luck when she starts high school next week. She and her little brother are now orphans, left to fend for themselves by Japan's tsunami.

"There were four of us in the family. My mother, father, little brother and me," she said.

"On the day of the tsunami Takashi was at the school with me, so he was safe. My parents took shelter in the sports hall. But that was washed away."

Naho, 15, and Takashi, 13, are just two of an unknown number of children orphaned by the huge waves that crushed towns along Japan's northeast coast on March 11. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of others lost one parent.

Nationally, more than 25,000 people are dead or missing two weeks on from Japan's worst natural disaster in nearly a century.

Naho knows for sure that her parents are gone.

"We found out about mum on the 12th and dad on the 14th," she said.

With their house smashed to kindling and their possessions scattered around what was once the small city of Rikuzentakata, their dog Chakko is all that links the two children to life before the tsunami.

"I'm glad she survived," said Naho, stroking the dog's head.

The pet was driven to safety by the children's father before he turned back to the city to try to join his wife in a sports centre where they thought they would be safe.

But Rikuzentakata's tsunami defences were overwhelmed by the size and ferocity of the wave, which left around 2,300 people -- 10 percent of the town's population -- dead or missing.

After the tsunami, Naho and Takahashi spent a cold, frightened night on the floor of their school along with hundreds of others evacuated from their homes.

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JAPAN'S TSUNAMI ORPHANS FACE UNCERTAIN FUTURE

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