everything just began to just kept asking wheree? have you seen her? i wouldn't know what i'd do without her. >> it looked like the world was ending >> growing up in indiana, tsunamis and earthquakes are the things that you only see in yw hollood films. >> h ended.re his world had the love of his life was missing. s >> that feeling that's not all right began growing as each minute went by >> strangers in a strange land they'd fallen in love, then the quake t, and all he knew was that her town was gone >> come hell or high water i was getting into that damned town. >> that's where he headed, right into that hell, willing to risk

his life to try to save hers >> tre's fires on the hill, fire on the water. >> but could he get there in time >> i've never loved someone the way i love georgia >> i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline." here's keithorrison with "swept away." >> who can say what lurks out there? past the horizon waiting impersonally, utterly at random, ashousands of lives tick to their unknowing ends, an d simple coincidences. a young man from middle america made a single decisionin could you imback there in indiana that you're about to make your lifelip on its head at this point? >> no. no, never. >> how could he know that on the other side of the world a younge woman made exactly tame decision, or that they'd meet practically on the eve of one of

the biggest natural disasters in recent mory. in how could he know that he middle of disaster, he'd lose her. >> i wouldn't know what i'd do without her. >> so coincidence? love disaster thhee is no fairness about tse things they just are. zac brown had turned 33 in 2010. had just picked up a degree in history from a college in indiana. no idea what to do next. and then he saw an offer for a job in japan, a two-year stint teaching english to elementary school kids. no japanese language skills qu reed why japan, of all places >> i don't think there was any rhyme or reason to it. i think it was just offered to me and i, i jumped on it >> the town they sent him to ina

japan lled kuji was a long, long wayrom his hometown of nashville -- nashville, indiana. on sundays he skyped with his parents, john and terry. john is a musician, and terry a school guidance counselor.m how did he s be doing? >> it was rough at first >> um-hum. >> the language thing was the big thing. >> you were a stranger in a strange land >> yes >> was it a lonely feeling >> yes it was but it was made better by the fact that there were other >> along with the teacrs, pe there was one other on, a volunteer who helped the foreign teachers adjust. a local english-speaking businessman named kenji hiraya kenji is a pretty accomplished guitarist, found out that zach was, too >> i'm amazed by his song, his original songs, and also he plays guitar very wellji >> kenulled out an old

gibson and handed it to zach >> he said "consider it yours while you're here." ♪ >> zach took that guitaro school trying to break the ice >> i think that that kind of helped break down that barrier i >> three weeks in, overwhelmed by home sickness he called his parents. he had had enough. >> as maybe embarrassings it c is, i was actuallyrying. and i said to him, i can't do mo this a i want to come home. >> and we said, no, you made a commitment you're a man you gave your word t >> how hard was itsay that >> that was really hard. >> it was really hard, yes >> i may have hung up the phone a bit angry at him, because it wasn't the answer i wanted to get, but in retrospect, i'm reallylad. work, and then one night, when r,the teachers got togethe there was someone new, another teacher just returning from a sunny vacation >> there was this beautiful, tanned georgia coming back from croatia. >> 23-year-old georgia robinson

cent university graduate herself from new zealand she'd been teaching ad libbing in a nearby town on the coast called noda. in october, they allent to a karaoke bar. >> i found out she was a huge fan of kiss, so you know, myself loving rock 'n' roll that sp arked my interest. >> did it seem to be the same way the other way around >> actually no, because i didn't hear anything from her after that night >> no idea that back in new zealand, georgia's cousin, boelsea, started hearing a a guy named zach >> she said that he was really outgoing and really nice person who was interested in all the or same sof things as her, like the same music, and the same movies >> and then a few weeks later, she called him here they are practicing with the other teachers for a december dan performance >> from then on, we 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 >> i met her on skype. police her heart, she had the flu. >> what did you think about this relationship, with a girl so far away >> we weren'putting that much stock in it. >> we were grateful that he had someone to spend time wi >> i was talking to my mom, and she's like, so you really, you really care for georgia, don't you? i was like, yeahot and my mom g bit choked up, well, what happens if you move to new zealand i had to assure my mother and say, that's never going to happen, mom. >> come january, zach seemed eager to get back to japan, and then two months later, friday, march 11th, 2011, the day before his father's birthday --ct >> i'd aually spent a lot of the day writing my dad a nice big birthday e-mail.i d hit "send" on that e-mail

iaand was talking to georgn gmail chat and - >> boom. >> -- boom everythingust began to shake i was in an office chair with wheelsand so immediately, as it started, the chair was, just >> zach had never be in an earthquake, but his co-workerson knew this e was big. worried that the building might collapse, they ran downstairs and out to the parking lot but soon they were told it was okay it was over. but when the shaking stopped, the disaster was just beginning. there was a monster out there over the horizon called fate, and it was coming very fast.al most as soon as zach got back to his desk, warning sirens went off, and even zach knew what that mea and if the tsunami was heading to his town of kuji two miles inland, what was it going to do

on the coast in noda, where georgia was? >> what had happened to georgia? had anyone in her town survived the tsunami? >> it was unrecognizable the buildings were destroyed >> zach knew he had to find her, and a world away, zach's parents still hadn't found him >> this can't be happeningsu are you it's where zach is? of savings and service.

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friday morning, march 11th,

2011 in nashville, indiana, john and terry whitcomb had barely had a sip of their morning tea when the news jolted them awake >> this was a very powerful eartuake the images are stunning out of japan.ak >> an epic earthque had hit northern japan, 9.0, near the top end of the richter scale and then a huge tsunami crashing up the coa it was like watching a disaster movie. this one horribly real, and john and terry's son, zach, was now right in the middle of it. what did you thi >> unreal. this can't be happening. are you sure it's where zach is? and we were looking at maps, and you know, everything was's pointing to, yes, xactly where zach is, and -d. >> we just p >> the enormous waves you see here were hitting noda and kuji, the towns were zach and georgia were teaching. the frantic calls began, but no

avail. and what happened th his phone? >> it would say all circuits are busy and that you'd get a busy signal >> and then the minutes went by. >> uh-huh. >> and then an hour, two hours what did that feel le? >> hell.pa >> as a rent you never think oh, my child's been killed you don't think that you just wait. you just wait, and just pray for thbest >> and remember, zach had wanted to come home months earlier, but terry and john had encouraged him to stay to livup to his commitment how much did you beat yourself up about that? i >>id >> seemed right then, but now? >> it was just a helplessness of we're way over here and ere's not a thing we can do. >> georgia's family in new zealand, including cousin se chel were just as scared and just as helpless >> one of my friends got a text to say that there had been a massive tsunami in japanfr

obviously, we all eaked out, because georgia was over there >> they turned on the tv and saw images from noda, the little coastal town where georgia was based. >> it was unrecognizab from images she had sent to us, that the buildings were destroyed there was debris everywhere. >> and grgia, though they tried and tried, was unreachable. gonee really thought that she'd kind of lost hope, guess >> tonight we're watching the rising death toll. the world is watching japan and our verage - >>t,ack in indiana that nigh the news ever worse, john turned on his computer and read that last e-mail from zach. >> he sent it at literally two minutes before the earthquake d what greeting >> birthday greeting >> said what

>> happy birthday, lovyou. >> it said much more than that, though >> dearest rockin' papi, happy birthday woo hoo, the big 5-0 the more and more time we spend apart, the more and more i realize how amazing of a father and friend you have been to me over the years, and have always given me a perfect example of how a man and a husband is to ma treat a woand his wife >> my gosh >> i'm thinking my god is this the last thing i hear from my n, you know? >> and it's that >> yes >> good morning. disaster in japan. >> saturday morning, more than 24 hours since they'd had any communication from their son >> by 8:30, we still hadn't heard anything, and still woke up to more, even more horribleve images, and then ehad time to think about the death toll. >> the death toll. >> and all that. it was just 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 fewords.d ey meant everything. >> brandon-san survived. basically that was all it said >> what was that like? >> of course we wanted more detail >> it s relief >> zach was alive, all they needed to know for now, but georgia? still no word. well, his parents worried about him at hom 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 his co-workers moved up to the top floor othe kuji city hall, a sort of crow's nest, with a view of the whole city and the coastline so if someing is going to happen, this is where you'd see >> yes >> and then he saw i something about the rivers that split the city and normally flow out to

the sea. >> the river was beginning to flow in the opposite direction the water began to change color asell. it began growing from this kin of bluish color to being very murky. >> even four stories up, zach could hear the roaring rivernt >> it rom just having small debris, like trees andhe otr rubbish that was around the harbor and stuff coming in to boats and vehicles, you know, to much larger and much more substantial things comin >> cars and things come along? >> yes, picked up along the coast.et >> that is gting scary then, right? >> yes >> of course, zach hadn't seen the footage that everybody outside the country had seen, towns wiped off the map, thousands missing. h he couldn't know bad it was. did your mind turn at all when you were up here to what's going on down there where georgia is i hoped she would be doing the same thing i was, that she would be in a safe location. >> a safe location was there such a thing where georgia was?

as water around them began to recede and zach and his co-workers came downstairs, he alized everybody was incredibly quiet >> and people's expressions had changed so drastically to just looks of genuine fear. that's when i thought, you know, i myself was scared. >> now he understood if the wave got as far as his nl town furtherand, 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 i wanted to comfort her as well. >> no idea what would be waiting for you at that end? >> no, not the slightest >> there's a moment in some lives that defines everything that comes after the test the trial.an this was zach brdon's test to pass or fail

>> coming up >> i've never loved someone the way i loved georgia. n' but sometimes love does conquer all. >> fire's on the hill, fire on the water, and it was completeuc scene of destrtion"d >> when ateline" continues

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zach brandon didn't fully comprehend how bad it was. e the tremendothquake and the deadly wall of water that followed it was snuffing out more than 18,000 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 and also i just wanted to make sure she was all right. >> zach kept telling himself she was all right. noda, the small town on the coast where georgia lived, was protected by massive concrete an sea walls d barriers so your first thought wasn't oh god, she's in trouble, it was more, thank god there's a wall

>> yeah, it's there. there's just no possible way it could have gotten over that. >> 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 ale, got another e-mail. zach was going to look for georgia. >> now a whole new set of concerns like, i wasn't even exactly sure where she was, so once we figured that out, we look it up on the map and well, it wasn't far away, but we just - >> it was even closer to the coast. >> it was closer to the coast. >> wondering what he might find. >> yes >> he was over there by himself and what would he do if he didn't find her. it was just, you know, it was all those thin >> zach hopped in his car and began the eight-mile drive down the winding drive from kuji to noda >> as i come down the hill, i ar

start noticing p walking on the side of the road, no cars, but they're just and i, just saying 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 >> it was just complete destruction, you know.lo there had been like of houses heated with kerosene, so kerosene tanks have been knocked over throughout the tsunami and because of the downed power lines actually sparked fires

fires on the hill, fire on the water. >> debris everywhere >> yes so i mean, it was just a complete scene of destruction really >> zach, almost in shock, walked toward the barricade blocking the road >> there was a police officer, and he jussaid to me, "dangeus, no," and just kind of began trying to escort me back towards where i had parked my car >> so zach got in his car and drove back to kuji, trying to tell himself it would be okay, that georg was fine. but the scene behind the barricade was chaos, disaster, was obvious. there were many casualties, it was pretty clear how many, it was impossible to know but zach understood, as he was turned away byhe guard, that one person's anxiety could not be allowed to trump public safety, but yet at that very moment, he understood with out what happened to the girl d behind the barricade he 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 you know, knowing that they n' wegoing through but just hoping you know, little messages of encouragement, "i love you, i hope everything's all right.g i'm goin come look for you i've tried >> what were you think >> i wouldn't -- i wouldn't know what i'd do without her. >> i guess that's the first time you really had to confront it i serious way, right >> yes i had -- i had never loved someone the way i loved georgia. opd so i, i guess i just h that she was going to be all -s

you know, she ing to be fine and i was going to -- >> probably didn't sleep much that night >> no.sh >> the afterocks went on all night. so did tsunami warnings. >> syou're thinking, is ther going to be another tsunami coming through you know, it's -- wow. r i didn'teally sleep. >> at 5:30 a.m., he knew what he he left a note on his ent 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 into kuji, stay here if i haven't found you by sundown, i'm coming right back here, so know i'm coming back. >> and then he got in his car again and headed toward the

coast. >> and i just decided literally come hell or high water, i was getting into that damned town. >> but how he'd certainly be facing hell and high water but perhaps the biggest problem? was the japanese army, blocking the road >> coming up was me running out for georgia? had zach lost the love of his life >> that feeling that she's not all right, it became growing as each minute went by.

as the sun rose over the c ruinedoastal towns of northern pan, zach brandon approached the barricade outside georgia's town, noda, determined to get past it, no idea how >> i parked little further out this time and started walking in and they still had the police officers and the defense for there with their road block.

but i noticed what looked likeoc to be a group of lals with shovels and other gear i'm assuming to go in to try to start clearing paths through the town i sohought that's my way in. >> tse civilian volunteers seemed to have official knew where they were gng clearly >> so i just pulled my hood up and hopped in li with them and at that point no one was 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 sitng down on her floor reading a book >> the path led up a hill past this shrine, desnded back down to a horrific scene. noda was almost unrecognizable >> there were these massive walls of debris of these houses toppled over boats, you know,

just anything you could imagine, you know i mean, metal electric polest just b if someone had just come through and doop! >> but he knew georgia's place was on aill. if she'd gone there before the tsunami hit, she'd be all right. but when he got there -- >> no sign that 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 thaa so destroyed, in my mind, i just could not see how - >> nobody survived in that city building >> well, yeah.ki >> sha that from his mind, zach thought georgia might have gone out to help one of the kindergarten, his hearsankught, >> the kindergarten was

completely gone. >> wiped away? >> yes they were, all that was left was a bit of the fence and some of the foundation so -at >> a kindergarten thould have been occupied >> i had hoped not >> later, he found out thoseer childrsafe 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 w >> and ient in, and i just kept aing, georgia sensei, where she have you seen her? >> they had not. but they did give zach some hope >> they said, chudako, go, junior high, junior high i take that as oh, she's at th junior high. >> so zach sprinted there, made his way to the teacher's room.

>> and i asked them, you know, have you seen orgia? 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 in there >> just, just feeling so lost, that feeling that i've been trying to suppress the feeling of she's not allight 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 daiju rud," it okay, it's okay, hugging me and patting me on the back as i'm crying, so, yeah >> then out of nowhere, a va pulled up, two men hopped out.ze

zach recogone 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, just pretty much, like let's go, pointing to the van, and just kind of pushing me into the van. >> they were taking him to city hall as you were being driven in that van, did you have any idea what they were driving you to see >> no.>> id you know that they had been taking bodies to the city >> no. no, i -- no. >> you didn't know that? >> didn't know >> city hallthad in fact become e temporary morgue was that where he'd findor gegia? >> coming up, the news everyone had been waiting for >> he was very brave for what he did, very brave, that you'd do that for people that you love. >> when "dateline" continues

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two men had pushedach brandon into the back of a van, which was now picking its way through canyons of urban rubble, apparently toward the noda city halld hach known the place had been turned into a temporary morgue, he'd have understood the meaning of the looks on their faces. the van stoppe the men got out.sa >> they id, 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 e corner walked out georgia. >> and i saw this baseball cap the last person in theld ie was, expected to see, trudging across the mud in his gum boots there was zach

>> how w that? >> it was a pretty awesome moment after the absolute insanity of the last 24 hours, it was surreal, but it was an amazing o eling at the same time te know, like she had hado sleep, like the rest of us. >> big hug >> yesf >> ourse >> she cried and i cried, and just one of the best hugs ever, you know knowing that she w safe. >> nice to know there's somebody that will go through the barricades, do whatever is needed to get to you >> yes i just couldn't understand how w zach had arrivedh his baseball cap in the middle of

all this>> es >> it was insane >> well, that's the way to a >> yes heart yes. >> and georgia's storyac well, if zhad been ringside, georgia was center stage and although she'd 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 sta in an earthquake >> still, everyone around her seemed okay. she thout it was all just kind of exciting. [ siren evwe when the tsunami siren off -- >> it was like, oh, cool this is really exciting. >> but others knew better.on and georgiearned 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 e town of noda flowing by the window. you were standing right here looking out there. >> um-hum. that's the exact spot, yep >> it's just quite awesome, like yes the town is up there. >> there's a roof here >> yep, there's a roof, there's actually a house wedged in under the entrance >> oh, my gosh, you're rightbe >> it's en almost broken in half >> unbelievable. there's another house. >> yes, another roof>> drifted across the road there. >> this house is not usually in the road there that's just in the middle of the car park >> just phenomenal wow. s she fee up here, somehow detached from thhorror 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'd be a shout, but other than that, it waso surreal, so silent >> wow >> yes i won't forget that moment

>> water and debris piled up alst 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 zachh but king he was okay further inland and the next morning, a jolting tershock, and more tsuna sirens but then zach found r, and together, they lood at what was left of the town georgia took these pictures. 38 people lost their lives in noda, a tiny percentage of the 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.av there was -- how a wcan do that, i don't know >> lifting complete houses up off their foundations, so all

that was left was the shell. >> or the front stairs leading up to nothing. >> yes >> and then they went to the safest place they could think of, their mentor kenji's office in kuj where the other achers had gathered. g and he knew, kenji bein kenji, he found all the food that he could find in his house, anything that we could eat, cl which ined, you know, lots of beer and sake on hand >> and music ♪ zach and kenji got out the guitars, tried to shut out the world. >> to kind of give ourselves some sense that everything was all right a bit, you know? >> and then cell phones chirped back to life>> everyone frantically had their phones out sending emails to our families, being able to tell them, you know, we're okay. >> back in indiana, zach's parents finally got the news they'd been praying for.

>> it took me hours and hours nd but i found her,he's alive. and so the first thing i did was call brend 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. >> she started crying. >> she just screamed and started crying >> mom came in and told me that zach had found her and she was safend she was alive, and it was the most amazing feeling i've ever experienced. he was very brave for what he did. that's very brave, that you'd do that for people that you love. >> the danger wasn't over, of course a 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 sa, have you checked your email yet and i said, no

he said why don't you guys look at your email together and so i said oh, zach, what now?

the fushima nuclear disaster rescue efforts have been complicated by damage to a nuclear power plant. >> it filled the air waves, potential meltdown, nuclear armageddon the president was calling for americans to get out >> yesterday wcalled for an on evacuaf american citizens who are within 50 miles of the plant. >> we were seeing on the news it's just a matter of they can't stop it, and --

>> and could affect the entire country, the entire region of ea the rth. >> right zach had thought the worst was over >> you never think you experience a tsunami or earthquake and now experiencinge a ltdown of a nuclear power plant. >> but we wanted him to come home we wanted him --hi >> yes, we wanted >> here we were the ones saying you have to stay a you maommitment. >> yeah. now it's time for to you come home >>ofut there was no travel, course, anywhere >> then zach 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'd you say >> well, i said, you know, i actually lied and said georgia was my fiance. i said my fiance i zealand citizen. >> can i bring her along >> yes and he said i'm sorry, we can s only offer thito u.s. citizens at this stage, and i can't leave

her behind >> zack and georgia were 200le minorth 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 stayedhe even helped with t cleanup and then about a month later, funny how these things go, zack and georgia got another shock. another one of those life-changing developmts zack told his parents about it during one of their regular sunday phone calls >> and he said, have you checked your email yet ani said no. l said why don't you guysook at your email together and so i said, oh, zack, what now? >> after all the worry and dread they'd eerienced over their son's time in japan, zack branham's parents weren't quite prepared for the next bit of news >> we opened the email, and there's an ultrasound picture. >> a baby was on the way

>> we were literally speechless, one of the few times in my life i've been speechless >> we nicknamed it baby bean because it looked like a little bean >> it just, it felt right in a way.vi we were obsly, are obviously in love and the timing wasn't amazing, but it had happened, so let's just go with it. >> still, it was one last step zack hadn't been qte ready to take it before, buwhen he came home tindiana 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. >> what, 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 ct exg 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 thexpected that i'm doing e right thing, so yeah, maybe, i did push him >> when zack went back to japan, he was ready t or so hehought georgia mehim at the train station. >> as we're walking to the car, i,ai don't know, i just, i s you just have to stop. >> i was like, what are you doing? it's freezing. let's get in the car, let's go and he said, just wait, and then all of a sudden he turned around, and he's 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 new zealand or in siberia. i want to spend the rest of myh life witu, and will you marry me?"

>>nd i said yes, of course i had to put him out of his mise he looked like he was going to collapse >> so i was engaged, and we didn't really know what we werem going to do here or where we were going to go but we were having a baby and we were going to get married >> in fact you got married twice. >> yes, we did, twice. >> they did.na the first in indiathe second one in new zealand, and there was a special guest at that one. 2-month-old sebastian. >> throw that one. yeah >> yeah, getting good distance was never going to hapn, sure it enough, zack and his family now live in new zeald. he works for the government, georgia a recruitment agency. in 2014, we brought them back to it all happened.ort time s >> my name is gea. >> georgia georgia! oh >>enhis teacher and her studts z

knew about georgia ak. many here looked upon their story as one positive ing that came out of that horrible tragedy. do you ever, and this is a totay unfair question, do yo ever sit together at night and say boy, if it hadn't been to for that day, would we be here would we have sebastian, would we be in this life together? >> all the time. i >>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 were crazy. re crazy, you knowought they so i could never have imagined this >> helped along by an earthquake, a tsunami and god knows what else. >> yeah, yeah. yeah >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us.

breakingig ove, former red sox slugger david ortiz is ambushed and shot in the back at a bar in the dominican republic. we'll have the latest on big papi's condition to crash used a cra at a dallas complex? one person died, others injured. we'll have new details >> hundreds of thousands pro extradition laws sending suspects from main land china for trial. >> a major military merger on th monday. raytheon and united technologies have plans to merge forces for the largest arrow defens