This was the terrifying moment all along the northeast coast of Japan. Almost 20,000 people died. A year later, the scene is very different. A massive cleanup has transformed the coast. The fishing town of Otsuchi was largely obliterated once the tsunami rolled in. Today, it looks almost serene. In place of the twisted wreckage, a barren wasteland. 

 

So you see the remains of towns along the coast have been piled into vast mountains of trash, some of it toxic, 19 years worse in the worst affected area. More than half a million buildings destroyed or damaged and still, there's no real plan for how to get rid of it. There is no blueprint for rebuilding. Two thousand of Otsuchi survivors still live in tiny temporary homes, that's where we met 79-year-old who lost everything in the tsunami. She may never get her wish to go home but told me, I always try to be positive about what lies ahead. 

 

The authorities here have pledged to build a giant new 50-foot high seawall, that more than twice the height of the one tossed aside by the tsunami last year. But even that may not be enough to make this place livable again. 

 

Further down the coast, few towns were hit harder than Minamisanriku where the surging water funneled on the narrow valley.The debris' also been cleared here. And for the first time since the disaster, boats are back sea farming seaweed, something this town was famous for. That's been made possible by new equipment, a project supported by the US Charity Mercy Corp which has created jobs for 200 people here. 

 

It's gonna take a long long time to really rebuild. But I think what we see now a year later is just a really resilient comunity that coming back together again. 

 

There's no shortage of spirit here. And that may be the most important asset as these devastated communities look to the future. 

 

Ian Williams, NBC News, Minamisanriku, Japan.