Zach Brandon was 23 in 2010 when he made the decision to leave Nashville, Indiana, after graduating from Franklin College with a degree in history. He took a job in Japan teaching English to elementary school children. Zach was a stranger in a strange land. It was lonely at first, until Zach met other foreign teachers including 23-year-old Georgia Robinson from New Zealand. The young couple weren’t together when the brutal March 2011 earthquake (9.0 on the Richter scale) struck and a monstrous tsunami followed and devastated the country. They both survived and were relieved when they were able to reunite. And then news of a meltdown at Fukushima, the nuclear power plant, followed. Dateline tells the story of the young couple.
President Obama told Americans who were within 50 miles of the Fukushima nuclear plant to evacuate. Zach got a call from the U.S. Military offering him a flight out. Zach asked if his fiancé (he lied about being engaged) could come too, but she couldn’t. The offer was only given to Americans at that time. Zach couldn’t leave her behind. Plus, they were 200 miles away from Fukushima. So they stayed and helped with the local cleanup efforts. And then they discovered they were pregnant.
When Zach came home to Indiana, he bought an engagement ring. When he returned to Japan and Georgia he proposed. They got married twice – once in Indiana, the other in New Zealand (baby Sebastian attended the latter). They now live in New Zealand. The Dateline episode “Swept Away” airs Sunday, May 27 at 7pm on NBC.
