Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Rescue Teams Reach Tsunami-Stricken Town Henry Ridgwell | Ofunato, Japan March 16, 2011 Members of the Japan Grounf Self-Defense Force search a tsunami damaged part of Ofunato Photo: AP Photo/Matt Dunham Members of the Japan Grounf Self-Defense Force search a tsunami damaged part of Ofunato, Japan, Tuesday, March 15, 2011. The estimated death toll from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan is now well over 10,000. Rescue teams are searching through the wreckage in Ofunato, Japan - one of the communities worst hit by last Fridayâs tsunami. The road to Ofunato is a journey through a landscape of apocalyptic destruction. It has taken five days for rescue teams to clear a way through the wreckage to the town. There are surreal sights at every turn. A tugboat weighing thousands of tons tossed into someoneâs yard. Cars suspended from second floors. And the belongings of the people who once called this place home, strewn among the debris. Masayo Kamagae, his wife and their daughter have returned here for the first time since the tsunami struck to search the family home. Their only finds are a rice bowl and their late grandfatherâs yukata robe (traditional Japanese garment). He said âI feel like itâs a nightmare. Itâs just unbelievable. But at least our family is alive.â Kamagae then showed us a stone embedded in the ground, marking the point where the last big tsunami reached in 1960. âWhen the tsunami alert sounded last Friday, many people living beyond this point assumed they were safe,â he said. âThatâs why many died.â For many of those who survived the tsunami here in Ofunato, this is the first chance theyâve had to come back to the town to see whatâs happened. Ambulances, fire engines and army trucks roar past the wreckage as the townâs homeless residents look on. Hideaki Iida has been back to the family home to see the damage. There is nothing left. But thatâs not his greatest loss. "My family is dead,â he said. âMy grandparents, my brother, my mother. All dead. I donât know what Iâll do now. Itâs too soon.â Japanese and international rescue teams scoured the wreckage throughout the day. They pulled out several bodies, but didnât find anyone alive. A U.S. rescue team from Los Angeles is among those whoâve flown in to help the Japanese. As team members disinfected their equipment at the end of the day, team spokesman David Stone described the conditions theyâre facing. âWe were in Haiti last year. We just got back from New Zealand - gosh not even two weeks ago. And here, this is worse. The scope and magnitude of destruction is unbelievable. Unless youâre actually here you just canât believe it, the pictures donât do it justice," he said. Winter has returned with a vengeance to northern Japan, making life difficult for the rescuers, and even harder for those made homeless. Ofunato is just one small town on the Pacific shoreline. There are many more communities suffering the same fate on a vast swathe of coast that has been devastated by the forces of nature. .