judiciary. we must denounce attacks that undermine our ability to do justice. >> some food for thought as we head into the weekend. that does it for me. you can always check out "the beat" on 6 p.m. eastern on msnbc. msnbc. everything began to shake. just kept asking where is she. i don't know what i would do without her. >> looked like the world was ending. >> growing up in indiana, earthquakes and tsunamis only see in films. >> love of his life was missing. >> feeling she was not all right was growing each minute. >> strangers in a strange land,

fallen in love, then the quake hit and all he knew was her town was gone. >> come hell or high water going to get to that town. >> that's where he headed. willing to risk his life to try to save hers. but could he get there in time? >> i never loved someone the way i loved georgia.

kelley feeling uncomfortable. even at night, even alone. except for one evening in late september 2015. andrea was chatting on the phone with kelley. she wasn't her usual, happy self.

on it. >> town called kuji, a long way from town of nashville, indiana. he skyped with parents. john is a musician and terri a school goodness counselor. >> how did he seem to be doing? >> rough at first, the

language was the thing. >> stranger in a strange land. was it a lonely feeling? >> yeah. it was. but it was made better by the fact there were other foreign teachers in town. >> along with the teachers was one other person, a volunteer who helped foreign teachers adjust. a local english speaking business man named kenji, a pretty accomplished guitarist, found out zach was too. >> that he's from -- he played guitar very well. >> kenji pulled out an old gibson, handed it to zach. >> he said consider it yours while you're here. >> zach took that guitar to school so break the ice. >> i would play music for them. i think that helped break down the barrier a bit. >> but three weeks in, home

sickness, called parents. had had enough. >> embarrassing, i was crying, i said can't do this anymore, need to come home. >> we said no, you made a commitment, you're a man. you gave your word. >> how hard was it to say that? >> really hard. >> wasn't the answer i wanted to get but in retrospect, really glad. >> zach tried to make it work. then one night when the teachers got together there was someone new. another teacher just returning from sunny vacation. >> beautiful tanned georgia coming back from croatia. >> a recent university graduate herself from new zealand. teaching and living on a nearby town on the coast called noda. in october all went to karaoke bar. >> found out she was a huge fan of kiss.

and myself loving rock and roll, sparked my interest. >> did it seem the same the other way around? >> no because i didn't hear from her after that night. >> no idea that back in new zealand georgia's cousin chelsea started hearing about a guy named zach. >> outgoing and nice and interested in the same things. liked same music and movies. >> and then a few weeks later she called him. >> here they are practicing with the other teachers for a december dance performance. >> and from then on ended up spending progressively more and more time together. >> it was a happier young man who went home to indiana for christmas. zach introduced his parents to georgia, sort of. >> met her on skype. bless her heart, she had the

flu, had bath robe on and not feeling well. what a way to meet. >> what did you think of the relationship with a girl that far away? >> weren't putting much stock in it. >> grateful he had someone to spend time with. >> talking to my mom, so you really care for georgia don't you? yeah. mom got choked up. what happens if you move to new zealand. had to assure my mother and say that's never going to happen mom. >> come january, zach seemed eager to get back to japan. then two months later, friday march 11th, 2011, the day before his father's birthday. >> i had spent a lot of the day writing a birthday e-mail. and hit send and talking to georgia on gmail chat and see you after had rehearsal and boom.

everything just began to shake. i was in office chair with wheels and so immediately as it started chair just began to slide. things falling off the shelves. >> zach had never been in an earthquake but coworkers knew this was big. worried that building might collapse, ran downstairs and out to the parking lot but soon told it was okay, over. but when the shaking stopped the disaster was just beginning. there was a monster out over the horizon called fate and it was coming very fast. almost as soon as zach got back to his death warning sirens went off and even zach knew what that meant. and if the tsunami was heading to his town inland, what about noda where georgia was.

>> zach knew he had to find her. and a world away, zach's parents still hadn't found him. >> this can't be happening. are you sure that's where zach is? drive with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? in so many ways. which cage free eggs taste fresher and more delicious? only eggland's best. which organic eggs have more vitamins and less saturated fat? only eggland's best.

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whether it's more laughs, oops. epic escapes, or high-flying thrills, get more into what you're into. just say "watchathon" into your x1 voice remote, or download the xfinity stream app. xfinity watchathon week, free. now through april 14. friday morning, march 11th, 2011. in nashville, indiana, john and terri had barely had a sip of

tea when the news jolted them awake. epic earthquake had hit northern japan. 9.0, near the top end of the richter scale and huge tsunami, like watching a disaster movie, this horribly real and son zach in the middle of it. >> unreal. this can't be happening. are you sure it's where zach is, in the same region? and we were looking at maps, and you know, everything was pointing to yeah, it's exactly where zach is. and. >> we just prayed. >> enormous waves you see here hitting noda, kuji, the towns where zach and georgia were teaching. frantic calls began to no avail.

>> what happened? >> would be buzzy, get a busy signal. >> and minutes went by, hour and two hours. what did it feel like? >> hell. >> as parent you never think my child has been killed. don't think that. you just wait and pray for the best. >> and remember zach had wanted to come home months earlier but terri and john encouraged him to stay, to live up to his commitment. >> how much did you beat yourself up about that? >> i did. >> seems right then, but now? >> helplessness of we're way over here and there's not a thing we can do. >> georgia's family in new zealand including cousin chelsea just as scared and helpless. >> when my friend got a text

that there had been a massive tsunami in japan, obviously all freaked out because georgia was over there. >> turned on the tv and saw images from noda, coastal town where georgia was based. >> unrecognizable to us. destroyed, debris everywhere. >> and georgia though they tried and tries was unreachable. >> re really thought she'd gone. lost hope i guess. >> tonight we're watching the rising death toll. world is watching japan and our coverage. >> back in indiana, the news ever worse, john turned on his computer and read last e-mail from zach. >> sent it literally two minutes before the earthquake hit. >> what with as it? >> a birthday greeting. >> said what? >> happy birthday, i love you. >> said more than that. >> dearest rocking poppy, happy birthday.

more time we spend apart, more i realize how much of a father and friend you've been over the years and perfect example of how a man is to treat his family and wife. thinking, this is the last i'll hear from my son? >> and it's that. >> good morning, disaster in japan. >> saturday morning. more than 24 hours since any communication from their son. >> 9:30, still hadn't heard anything, woke up to even more horrible images and ten times talking about the death toll. all of that. compounding and compounding and compounding. >> and then, about the moment all seemed lost, another e-mail arrived. not from zach, it was from kenji, that volunteer mentor in japan, just a few words, and they meant everything.

>> survived. that's basically all it said. >> of course we wanted more details. >> relief. >> zach was alive. all they needed to know for now. but georgia, still no word. well his parents worried about him at home, zach was riding out the chaos in kuji. >> i wasn't really sure what was going on at first. >> after the shaking stopped, zach and coworkers moved up to the top floor of the kuji city hall, a crow's nest with a view of the whole city and coastline. >> if something is going to happen, this is where you would see it. >> and then he saw it. something above the rivers that split the city and normally flow out to the sea. >> river beginning to flow in the opposite direction. water changed color from bluish to murky.

>> even four stories up could hear the roaring river. >> went from small debris like trs and rubbish around the harbor coming in to boats and vehicles. much larger and more substantial things coming. >> cars and things coming along? >> things must have picked up along the coast. >> scary. >> yeah. >> of course zach hadn't seen the footage everybody outside the city had seen. towns wiped off the map. thousands missing. he couldn't know how bad it was. >> did your mind turn at all when up here to what was going on down there with georgia? >> i hoped doing the same thing i was. would be in a safe location. >> was there such a thing where georgia was? as water around him began to recede and zach and coworkers came downstairs, he realized everybody was incredibly quiet. >> and people's expressions had

changed to drastically to these looks of genuine fear. that's when i thought, i myself was scared. >> now he understood. if the wave got as far as his town further inland, it had to have hit georgia's town right on the coast. what happened to all those people there, to georgia, and suddenly he knew he had to find this girl. just had to. >> i wanted to see her and comfort her as well. >> no idea what would be waiting for you at that end? >> not the slightest. >> there's a moment in some lives that defines everything that comes after. a test, a trial. this was zach branham's test to pass or fail. >> coming up. >> i never loved anyone like i loved georgia. >> sometimes love doesn't conquer all.

>> on the hill, on the water, a complete scene of destruction. >> when "dateline" continues.

zach brandon didn't fully comprehend how bad it was. the tremendous earthquake and the deadly wall of water that followed it was snuffing out more than eighteen,000 lives, tens of thousands of homes. whole towns were being swept away, but zach didn't know that yet.

>> i just wanted to find georgia, my best friend. make sure she was all right. >> zach kept telling himself she was all right. noda was covered with sea walls and barriers. >> so not oh, god she's in trouble, it was more thank god there's a wall. >> yeah it's there. no possible way it could have gotten over there. >> how did you find out that you were wrong? >> well i decided -- i just left. i left work. >> back in indiana, zach's parents, relieved their son was alive, got another e-mail. zach was going to look for georgia. >> now a whole new set of concerns. wasn't sure where she was. figured that out and looked on the map. wasn't far away. >> closer to the coast. wondered what he might find over

there by himself and what would he do if he didn't find her. all those things. >> zach hopped in his car and began the eight mile drive down the winding road from kooujy i to noda. >> was i came down the hill, i started noticing people are walking on the side of the road. no cars but they're just walking, whole families walking. and i just thinking to myself, that's odd. that's strange. as i got closer, i could see what looked like to be a house on its side, just in the middle of the road. i was really confused. because where were the tsunami walls? >> police had set up a barricade and beyond it. >> what did you see over there?

>> complete destruction. you know. there had been a lot of the houses heated with kerosene, so tanks knocked over throughout the tsunami and because of the downed power lines actually sparked fires. fires on the hill, on the water. >> debris everywhere. >> yeah. just a complete scene of the destruction really. >> zach, almost in shock, walked toward the barricade blocking the road. >> there was a police officer and he just said to me, dangerous. no. and just began trying to escort me back to where i had parked my car. >> so zach got in his car trying to drive back to kuji, trying to tell himself would be okay, georgia was fine. that the scene was disaster, obvious there were casualties but how many impossible to know. but zach understood that one

person's anxiety couldn't trump public safety but at that very moment he understood with absolute clarity, he had to find out what happened to the girl behind the barricade. had to. if she was alive or dead or injured. had to because she was the love of his life. he sent message after message by text. >> in vain, knowing they weren't going through, just hoping. you know, little messages of encouragement, i love you. hope everything is all right. i'm going to come look for you. i tried. know him coming. >> what were you thinking? >> i wouldn't -- i wouldn't know what i'd do without her. >> guess that's the first time you really had to confront it in a serious way right?

>> yeah. i had -- i had never loved someone the way i loved georgia. and so i -- i guess i just hoped that she was going to be all -- you know, she was going to be fine. i was going to be. >> probably didn't sleep much that night. >> no. >> the aftershocks went on all night. so did tsunami warnings. >> so you're thinking is there going to be another tsunami coming through? you know, is this -- didn't really sleep. >> 5:30 a.m., you knew what he had to do.

left a note on his apartment door, just in case georgia made it there. >> and i said georgia i'm coming to look for you. if for some reason you make it to kuji, stay here. if i haven't found you by sundown, i'm coming back here. know i'm coming back. >> then he got in his car again and headed to the coast. >> and i just decided come hell or high water i was getting into that damned town. >> how? he certainly would be facing hell and high water but perhapsed biggest problem was the japanese army block the road. >> coming up, was time rung out for georgia, had zach lost the love of his life? >> that feeling that she was not all right became growing as each minute went by.

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as the sun rose over the ruined coastal towns of northern japan, zach brandon approached, le the barricade outside the town of noda, determined to get past it, no idea how. >> i parked a little further out this time and started walking in. and they still had the police officers and the defense force there with their roadblock. but i noticed what looked like to be a group of locals with shovels and other gear. i'm assuming to go in to try to start clearing paths through the town. so i thought that's my way in. >> though civilian volunteers seemed to have official permission to get in and clearly knew where they were going.

>> so i just pulled my hood up and hopped in line with them, and at that point no one was really kind of looking around. >> he slipped past the police line, followed the group up a path away from the main road. he knew where he'd go first if he could. so your first destination was her apartment? >> yes. hoping that i'd find her sitting there on her floor, reading a book. >> the path led up a hill past this shrine, descended back down to a horrific scene. noda was almost unrecognizable. >> there were these massive walls of debris, of these houses toppled over, of boats, just anything you could imagine. i mean metal electric poles just bent as if someone had just come through and just -- >> but he knew georgia's place was on a hill. if she'd gone there before the tsunami hit, she'd be all right. but when he got there -- >> no sign she was there. everything was still left exactly the way we had left it

from the previous morning when we both went to work. >> as he went back outside, zach could see down into the center of town. that's where georgia's office was, where she was when the earthquake hit. and what he saw chilled him to the bone. >> what i could see of the central part of the village that was so destroyed, in my mind, i could not see how -- >> nobody survived in that city building. >> well, yeah. >> shaking that from his mind, zach thought georgia might have gone to help out at one of the three schools where she taught. but when he got to the kindergarten, his heart sank. >> the kindergarten was completely gone. >> wiped away? >> yeah. all that was left was a bit of the fence and some of the foundation. >> a kindergarten that would have been occupied? >> i had hoped not. >> later he found out those

children were safe, evacuated before the tsunami hit. but now zach went to another school, found a group of teachers huddled in their office. unable to speak japanese, he passed around georgia's business cards with her photo. >> and i went in, and i just kept asking, you know, georgia sensei, where is she? have you seen her? >> they had not. but they did give zach some hope. >> they said, chukago. junior high. junior high. i take that as, oh, she's at the junior high. >> so zach sprinted there, made his way to the teachers' room. >> and i asked them, you know, have you seen georgia? and they said they hadn't, had not seen her. and i kind of lost it a bit at that -- at that point. >> zach staggered outside, out of options. his despair now total. what was happening in your mind?

>> just -- just feeling so lost. that feeling that i'd been trying to suppress, the feeling of she's not all right, it began growing in size immensely as each minute went by. >> one of the teachers came outside to comfort him with a cup of tea. >> telling me, you know, it's okay. it's okay, it's okay. hugging me and patting me on the back because i'm crying. yeah. >> then out of nowhere, a van pulled up. two men hopped out. zach recognized one as a colleague of georgia's. they didn't look happy. zach tried to ask them. >> georgia, you know, where is she? where is she? and they didn't say -- because they spoke no english and i spoke no japanese, they're just pretty much like, let's go, pointing to the van and just

kind of pushing me into the van, you know. >> they were taking him to city as you were being driven in that van, did you have any idea what they were driving you to see? >> did you know that they had been taking bodies to the city hall? >> no, i -- no. >> didn't know that? >> didn't know. >> city hall had in fact become the temporary morgue. was that where he'd find georgia? coming up, the news everyone had been waiting for. >> he was very brave for what he did. very brave. but you do that for people that you love. >> when "dateline" continues. we don't follow the naysayers. ♪ ♪ ♪ here i go again on my own ♪ goin' down the only road i've ever known ♪

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through canyons of urban rubble, apparently toward the noda city hall. had zach known the place had been turned into a temporary morgue, he would have understood the meaning of the looks on their faces. the van stopped. the men got out. >> they said, don't get out. you know, like -- like motioning for me to stay in the van. that was it. >> he steeled himself for whatever was coming next. what he did not expect was what he saw. >> around the corner walked out georgia. >> and i saw this baseball cap over by a car, and there he was. the last person in the world i expected to see trudging across the mud. in his gum boots. it was zach. >> how was that? >> it was a pretty awesome moment. after the absolute insanity of

the last 24 hours, it was surreal, but it was an amazing feeling at the same time to see him there. >> hair all a bit frantic, you know, like she had had no sleep like the rest of us. >> a big hug. >> yeah. >> of course. >> she cried. i cried. it was one of the best hugs ever, you know, knowing that she was safe. >> nice to know that somebody will go through the barricades, do whatever is needed to get to you? >> yeah. i just couldn't understand how zach had arrived with his baseball cap in the middle of all this. >> yeah. >> it was insane. >> well, that's the way to a girl's heart. >> yeah. yeah. >> and georgia's story, well, if zach had been ringside, georgia was center stage. and although she had been

through earthquakes before in new zealand, this one was much, much different. >> that's the first time i found it hard to walk or stand in an earthquake. >> still, everyone around her seemed okay. she thought it was all just kind of exciting. [ siren ] even when the tsunami siren went off. >> i was like, oh, cool. this is really exciting. >> but others knew better, and georgia soon learned this was very, very bad. >> they said, you need to go upstairs. so i followed everyone. we went upstairs, looked out the window, and noda was gone. >> oh, my god. >> this is what georgia saw captured on her cell phone camera. much of the town of noda flowing by the window. you were standing right here, looking out there. >> that's the exact spot, yep. >> it's just quite awesome. like half the town is up there. >> yeah. >> there's a roof here.

>> yep, there's a roof which there's actually a house wedged under the -- >> oh, my gosh. you're right. >> -- entrance, almost broken in half. >> unbelievable. there's another house drifted across the road. >> this house is not usually there. that's just in the middle of the car park. >> just phenomenal. wow. she felt safe up here, somehow detached from the horror she was witnessing. and then it hit her. >> there was this moment where it was absolutely silent, and you could hear a dog barking off in the distance. and occasionally there would be a shout. but other than that, it was so surreal, so silent. >> wow. >> yeah. >> i won't forget that moment. >> water and debris piled up almost to the second floor. no one could leave. what was that like? >> that was the worst night of my life.

>> a sleepless night huddled in her boss's office, missing zach but thinking he was okay further inland. the next morning, a jolting aftershock and more tsunami sirens. but then zach found her, and together they looked at what was left of the town. georgia took these pictures. 38 people lost their lives in noda. a tiny percentage of them, more than 18,000, who died up and down the coast, but half of noda was simply gone. >> it was like someone had just driven a bulldozer through, and it was all gone. how a wave can do that, i don't know. >> lifting complete houses up off their foundations, so all that was left was the shell. >> the front stairs leading up to nothing. >> yeah. >> and then they went to the safest place they could think of, their mentor kenji's office in kuji where the other teachers had gathered.

>> kenji, being kenji, he found all the food he could find in his house, anything we could eat which included lots of beer and sake on hand. >> and music. ♪ >> zach and kenji got out the guitars, tried to shut out the world. >> tried to give ourselves some sense that everything was all right a bit. >> and then cell phones chirped back to life. >> so everyone frantically had their phones out sending e-mails to their families, being able to tell them we're okay. >> back in indiana, zach's parents finally got the news they'd been praying for. >> it took me hours and hours, but i found her and she's alive. the first thing i did was call brenda, georgia's mom, and she was in bed. she wasn't asleep. she was trying to sleep. but i said zach found her.

she's alive. >> and fine. >> she just screamed and started crying. >> mom came in and told me that zach had found her and that she was safe and she was alive. and it was the most amazing feeling i've ever experienced. he was very brave for what he did. it was very brave. but you do that for people that you love. >> the danger wasn't over, of course. we all know what came next. so you find out that he's okay. she is okay. now what? i mean -- >> fukushima. coming up, a different kind of aftershock. >> he said, have you checked your e-mail yet? and i said no. he said, why don't you guys look at your e-mail together. and so i said, oh, zach, what now? the biggest week in television is back!

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the fukushima nuclear disaster. >> we are covering a full-blown nuclear scare. it filled the air waves. potential meltdown, nuclear armageddon. the president was calling for americans to get out. >> yesterday we called for an evacuation of american citizens who are within 50 miles of the plant. >> we were seeing on the news that it's melting down. it's just a matter of time. they can't stop it. >> in fact the entire country, the whole entire region of the

earth. >> zack had thought the worst was over. >> you never think you'd ever experience a tsunami or earthquake, and now you're experiencing a meltdown of a nuclear power plant. >> but we wanted him to come home. we wanted him -- >> yeah. >> here we were the ones saying you have to stay, you made a commitment. >> yeah. now it's time for you to come home. >> but there was no travel, of course, anywhere. >> then zack got a call from a u.s. air force officer. >> he said, we'll take you to the air force base, and we'll fly you to a safe location. >> so what did you say? >> well, i said, you know, i actually lied and said georgia was my fiancee. i said my fiancee is a new zealand citizen. >> can i bring her along? >> yeah. and he said, you know, i'm really sorry. we can only offer this to u.s. citizens at this stage. and i can't leave her behind.

>> zack and georgia were 200 miles north of fukushima. and as the days passed, they began to feel the danger from the radiation, at least where they were, was subsiding. so they stayed, even helped with the cleanup. then about a month later, funny how these things go. zack and georgia got another shock. another one of those life-changing developments. zack told his parents about it during one of their regular sunday phone calls. >> and he said, have you checked your e-mail yet? and i said, no. he said, why don't you guys look at your e-mail together? and so i said, oh, zack, what now? >> after all the worry and dread they'd experienced over their son's time in japan, zack branham's parents weren't quite prepared for the next bit of news. >> so we opened the e-mail, and there's an ultrasound picture. >> a baby was on the way.

>> we were literally speechless. one of the few times of my life i've been speechless. >> so we nicknamed it baby bean because it looked like a little bean. >> it just -- it felt right in a way. we were obviously -- are obviously in love, and the timing wasn't amazing. but it had happened. so let's just go with it. >> still, there was one last step. zack hadn't been quite ready to take it before. but when he came home to indiana to see his family -- >> while i was in indiana in june, my mom and my sisters went with me, and we went engagement ring shopping. >> did he intend to do that? would he have done that without a little push, you think? >> i don't know. i know that i said, would you marry her if she wasn't expecting a baby? and he said, yes.

and i said, then she needs to know that. she needs you to ask her to marry you, not just it be expected that i'm doing the right thing. and so, yeah, maybe i did push him. >> when zack went back to japan, he was ready. or so he thought. georgia met him at the train station. >> as we're walking to the car, i -- i don't know. i just -- i said, you have to stop. >> i was like what are you doing? it's freezing. let's get in the car. let's go. he said, just wait. then all of a sudden, he turned around, and he is shaking, but he's holding a ring box. >> and i got down on my knee, and i just said, i love you, and i want to spend the rest of my life with you. i don't care if it's in japan or in new zealand or if we're in siberia. i want to spend the rest of my life with you. will you marry me? >> and i said yes, of course.

i had to put him out of his misery, he looked like he was going to collapse. >> so i was engaged, and we didn't really know what we were going to do from there or where we were going to do. but we knew we were having a baby and we were going to get married. >> in fact, you got married twice. >> yeah, we did. >> yes, two weddings. the first in indiana. the second one in new zealand. and there was a special guest at that one, 2-month-old sebastian. >> that one. >> yeah. getting some good distance. >> after promising his mother it was never going to happen, sure enough, zack and his family now live in new zealand. he works for the government. georgia at a recruitment agency. we brought them back to japan for the first time since it all happened. >> my name is georgia. >> georgia!

>> this teacher and her students knew about georgia and zack. many here looked upon their story as one positive thing that came out of that horrible tragedy. do you ever -- and this is a totally unfair question. do you ever sometimes sit together at night and say to yourselves, boy, if it hadn't been for that day, would we be here? would we have sebastian? would we be in this life together? >> all the time. >> if someone would have told me three years from now you will be living in wellington. >> married to an american. >> married to a kiwi with a 2-year-old son. >> i would have said, you're crazy. >> i would have thought they were crazy, you know? so could have never imagined this. >> helped along by an earthquake, a tsunami, and god knows what else. >> yeah. yeah. yeah.

that's all for now. thanks for joining us. we, the jury, find the defendant guilty. >> you actually think they read the wrong verdict. >> you feel so alone and hopeless. >> it's like a shot in the chest. >> despair to hope. darkness to light. a fight for freedom. >> what happened to this teenager could happen to any one of our children. >> at 18, he w a