U.S. natives share Japan quake survival stories

After three days, the world is still struggling to understand how much destruction the earthquake and tsunami caused in Japan. However, we do know much of the worst damage is centered in the coastal city of Sendai.

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Kloran described where he's currently staying in Sendai as "very safe."

He said, "We have electricity. We don't have running water yet."

But he's seen the devastation elsewhere.

Pictures: Devastation in Japan Pictures: Search and Rescue in Japan

"Earlier today, I did go down to an area near the airport, which was completely destroyed, and it is very hard to put it into words," he said. "It looks like everything was just completely decimated when a bomb went off. There are pieces of buildings everywhere. And just completely shattered."

When the earthquake struck, Kloran was at his home in Fukushima - not far from the city's now-volatile nuclear reactors.

He explained, "I live in a town about 40 kilometers away from where these nuclear reactors are having trouble. And I was in my apartment, and it is kind of a newer building, so they're fairly flexible. And so when the quake actually started, the walls started moving back and forth, things started moving off the walls, and then it was just, I don't want to say a regular earthquake, but it was like medium strength. And then it instantly ramped up where the whole house kind of jerked to the side. And then it just didn't stop. Usually these things go for a few seconds and then they let up. And this just kept going on and on and on for several minutes."

Co-anchor Chris Wragge asked Kloran about his proximity to the reactors. Was he concerned after the quake?

"Very concerned, yes," Kloran said. "We came up here to Sendai immediately after the earthquake, because we have some family up here. And I've been talking to some of the people back there in Fukushima, and there's mixed messages going on. Some people are there and they can't get out. With the highway shut down and the trains shut down, they know they might have to evacuate very soon. But they've got no way to do it, like maybe they could bicycle out or something or hopefully there will be enough, maybe government transports available. So there's a lot of confusion as to what actually is going on with the leakage coming out, and if people are going to need to evacuate, and if so, how they're actually going to be able to do that."

Wragge asked, "Let me ask you, did that concern you? Because the government there seems to say, 'OK,it's a problem. It's not that big a problem.' But then you hear reports that the United States is moving the USS Ronald Reagan, which is already 100 miles offshore even further away, because they've gotten some contamination detection out there."

Kloran replied, "I actually hadn't heard that yet. The news I've gotten is, like I said, is a little bit sketchy. So, from what I'm hearing from the Japanese side, it's not that bad. But, I'd rather hedge my bets and go with the worst-case scenario and have it turn out to be better than that. Right now, I just find it very, very scary that several of these reactors are all having problems, and that the leakage is going out. On the news, what I've seen here, is that people in my town, in Fukushima, are being tested for radiation poisoning. And on the video that I saw, it was only about a block or two away from where my apartment is. So that really concerns me."

Wragge said, "Well, what will you do now? Will you stay there in Sendai with your girlfriend's parents in that area? I mean, I assume this means you're not going back to your apartment anytime soon."

"Right. Right," Kloran said. "We might actually have to go back sometime tomorrow, but we're looking at relocating to Tokyo sometime soon. So, our concern right now is just to kind of make a run, get in there, get anything that we need, and then get out again, because we don't want to get stuck there."

Wragge asked, "Do you think it's safe, though, to even go back even for a quick moment, with what you're hearing?"

"To be honest, no, I really don't," Kloran said. "It's very precarious situation, because that's the only place where we live, where our clothes are. We don't have any running water up here. So there is kind of a need for us to get back there and get our things, and then keep moving south, trying to get out of there. So, we're hoping for the best but preparing for the worst."

Co-anchor Erica Hill spoke with Gregory Lekich, a Philadelphia-native who lives in Sendai. He was at the school where he teaches in a nearby Sendai suburb when the earthquake hit on Friday.

Via Skype from his home in Sendai, h described what life is like in the city's center.

Lekich said, "I'm fine. I'm here in my apartment with my girlfriend and several of my friends. And, you know, things in the city center are improving as of right now. You know, obviously the outlying areas is a different story. But you know, power is slowly coming back on. People are getting water and Internet service back, cell phone reception is improving. So, you know, the situation in the city, I'd say, is getting better. But, you know, that's not where the real problems are."

Lekich added, "I'd say people are holding up. I don't think the full extent of it has sunk in yet. You know, right now, everyone is still kind of in crisis mode, still running on adrenaline. Still trying to, you know, get information on people, make sure that people who have been displaced have enough food and water, and whatnot. So, you know, I think the larger implications haven't begun to set in."

Hill noted Lekich and the people he's staying with have food and water. She asked him if others in the city are getting these essentials.

Lekich said, "Well, it's hard to say. Because it's a very big city geographically, and you know, I haven't seen all of it. Today I went out for a bike ride to look for another friend of ours, who also was fine, and we saw outside a supermarket trucks pulling up, and you know, fresh produce being unloaded, bags of rice, bags of potatoes, vegetables. And you know, people were buying it. So there is food coming into the city. I don't know that everybody has the food they need. We're just trying to sort of take care of our area. But as I said, the overall situation is improving. So hopefully in the next few days food will become less of a concern."

CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker was also in Sendai Monday. He said on "The Early Show" many people are walking through the area as though they can't believe their eyes. One man said, "I never expected the tsunami all the way in here because we're so far from the ocean."

At a convenience store, Whitaker pointed out how high the water washed ashore -- eight feet high -- more than a mile from the ocean.

Whitaker reported Gotto Masanori, an architect, designed his house, but the tsunami destroyed it.

Masanori told CBS News, "I don't have money. All of the things break. Broken."

Thousands of homeless now line up for space in city-run shelters in Sendai. Whitaker went inside one of the shelters run in a school. He reported four floors of classrooms are now home to displaced families. A woman named Teiko Akiba told Whitaker she is happy to be at the shelter -- and to be alive. The water rose to chest-level in her house.

At the shelter Whitaker, also met Kiyoko Shoji, who was there scanning the names of residents for her missing friend. She had looked at four other shelters; she didn't find her friend's name at the school shelter either.