richter scale. and then a huge tsunami crashing up the coast. it was like watching a disaster movie. this one horribly real, and johnrry's son zac was now right in the middle of it. >> unreal. this can't be happening. are you sure it's where zac is? are you sure it's in the same region? and we were looking at maps and, you know, everything was pointing to, yeah, it's exactly where zac is. >> so we just prayed. >> enormous waves you see here were hitting noda, kuji, the towns where zac and georgia were teaching. the frantic calls began, to no avail. >> and what happened? >> it would say all circuits are busy and that you'd get a busy signal. >> and then the minutes went by and then an hour and two hours. what did that feel like? >> hell. >> as a parent you never think, oh, my child's been killed. you don't think that. you just wait. you just wait and just pray for the best. >> and remember, zac had wanted to come home months earlier, but terri and john encouraged him to stay. how much did you beat yourself up about that? >> i did. >> seemed right then, but now? >> just the helplessness of we're way over here and ther