march 11th, 2011. friday morning, march 11, 2011. in nashville, indiana, john and terry whitcomb had barely had a sip of their morning tea when the news jolted them awake. >> this is a very powerful earthquake. the images are stunning out of japan. >> an epic earthquake hit northern japan, 9.0, near the top end of the richter scale. then a huge tsunami crashing up the coast. 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 think? >> unreal. this can't be happening. are you sure it's where zach is? are you sure it's in the same region? we were looking at maps, and everything was pointing to, yeah, it's exactly where zach is. >> we just prayed. >> enormous waves you see here