Video of terrifying destruction in Japan hits the web

  It now is a virtual law of viral newsgathering: Once a major, newsworthy event happens, the world of social media--Facebook, Twitter and the like--will send compelling broadcast footage of that event caroming through cyberspace.
And that's definitely been the pattern with the horrendous earthquake and tsunami that have devastated Japan. After the jump, a few of the videos that have gone viral over the past few days.Here's video from the ground that was posted to Facebook by James MacWhyte, an American living in Tokyo, that has now made its way to Youtube:
Here's footage taken in the port town of Kamaishi showing tsunami flood waters pouring into that town:
Here's a clip of an explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant:

This Reuters report features amateur video of the tsunami hitting Japan's coast:
And here's video taken from a helicopter on Friday as the tsunami made landfall on Japan's eastern coast: