Father Kleinsorge and the other priests of the mission are assessing the damage. One priest is taken to a doctor. Meanwhile, Kleinsorge checks out his room in the mission and then begins digging out people who are reported hurt and missing. Two of the priests take Father Schiffer, who is bleeding profusely, to find a hospital. Soon the priests return. They cannot get to Dr. Fujii's hospital because it has been destroyed.
Farther down the street (in the river), Dr. Fujii observes what is happening and realizes that his hospital is destroyed and that he has been dazed and disoriented for about twenty minutes. Then he realizes that the tide will soon be coming in, and when it does his head will be under water. Fear drives him to free himself and climb up the piling to the riverbank. After he is free, he feels the heat of the fires and returns to the coolness of the water. Stolidly, he waits for the fires to die down.
Dr. Sasaki grabs bandages from the storeroom of the Red Cross Hospital and helps people. Starting with the closest patients, he eventually prioritizes those who are the worst. Literally 10,000 people are making their way to the hospital — many are horribly burned, maimed, vomiting, and dying. He takes the worst wounds first, hoping to keep people from bleeding to death. After only a few hours, he works mechanically, going relentlessly from one patient to the next.
