A Japanese town's miracle in the madness

Erika Iwabuchi can't find where her house once stood in Koizumi,  but  still, her town is remarkably fortunate.

Of its 1,800 residents, only 42 people are missing or dead in Koizumi. In neighboring Minamisanriku, more than half the population of 17,000 perished, reports CBS News correspondent Lucy Craft.

When the wave came, 69-year-old Toichi Sato got his wife to safety and tried to do the same for his 91-year-old mother.

I was holding tight onto my mother, but we were swept away, he says, I was saved, because my foot got hooked around a tree.

Complete coverage: Disaster in Japan
The 3 factors that saved Koizumi's residents

His mother did not make it. But in this once vibrant town, she is the exception.

This town was wiped off the map. Those who survived say it's a combination of geography and timing -- and being ready.

"When there's a big quake," says this woman, "we head for high ground. We know exactly where to go, because we practice."

Practice drills several times a year that led them up a nearby hill to safety.

When you start to feel a violent shaking, you have to flee. That's what saved us.

And though suddenly homeless and still lacking basics, like electricity, this community is thriving.

Exercising together, caring for each others' children and tending to medical needs as they find a way to cope with disaster.

"It's a shock, but it's no one's fault. It's the tsunami's fault," Sato says, "we have to get on with our lives."

Here there is no blame -- only perseverance and fellowship -- in the face of so much loss.