shelters there in japan right now. here's cnn's kyung lah with more from sendai. >> reporter: in a tsunami disaster this massive mari sato is learning that the small gestures matter the most. food and water, she says, from someone she barely knows. sato lost everything in the tsunami that hit sendai. she learned from these before and after satellite images of the newspaper that her home was destroyed. >> translator: i never imagined a tsunami could do this, she says, saying she lives inland about two miles from the ocean. she is one of the hundreds of new residents of this elementary school. this is the youngest, only 3 weeks old. her father says he's numb and can't seem to put her down ever since he and his wife fled from the debris that flattened their