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Japan’s disaster On March 11, Japan marks one year since a deadly earthquake and tsunami struck its northeastern coast, killing at least 15,000 people and leading to the country’s worst-ever nuclear accident.
March 11, 2011
The massive tsunami triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake engulfed treetops as it loomed over Natori, Miyagi prefecture.
Kyodo
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Reuters
March 11, 2011
Toya Chiba, a local newspaper reporter, was swept away amid a tumble of cars as the tsunami hit the port at Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture. Chiba managed to survive by grabbing a dangling rope and climbing onto a coal heap.
Kyodo
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Reuters
March 12, 2011
The tsunami left behind a massive jumble of cargo containers in hard-hit Sendai, the capital of Miyagi prefecture.
Itsuo Inouye
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AP
March 12, 2011
People headed for a shelter in Natori city, Miyagi prefecture.
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AFP/Getty Images
March 14, 2011
Takatoshi Ishikawa cradled his four-month-old daughter, Iroha, as he prepared to move to higher ground following another tsunami warning. Iroha, who had been lost amid the March 11 disaster and was feared dead, was found days later by a soldier searching the rubble of Ishinomaki, 200 miles northeast of Tokyo.
Hiroto Sekiguchi
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AP
April 25, 2011
Members of the Japanese Self-Defense Force waded through mud as they continued the search for the bodies of the missing in Shichigahama, Miyagi prefecture.
Hiro Komae
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AP
March 11, 2011
The tsunami waters created a whirlpool in the harbor at Oarai, a port city in Ibaraki Prefecture.
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AP
March 11, 2011
Fire swept through Natori city, Miyagi prefecture after the tsunami's waters receded.
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AFP/Getty Images
March 11, 2011
The glow of flames illuminated the ruins of Iwaki city, Fukushima prefecture.
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AP
March 13, 2011
A man was found dead on the stairway of a destroyed home in Sendai. Many coastal residents, especially the elderly, had little to no time to try to head for higher ground before the tsunami hit.
David Guttenfelder
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AP
March 17, 2011
A woman with a child on her back walked through a tunnel in Kessennuma, Miyagi prefecture.
Shuhei Yokoyama
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AP
March 17, 2011
Fuyo Murakami, center, and her husband, Yoshiro, said a tearful farewell to a relative as they evacuated Rikuzentakada, Iwate prefecture, on their way to Hokkaido with their son.
Jiji Press
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AFP/Getty Images
March 13, 2011
A woman sat helpless amid the ruins of Natori, Miyagi prefecture.
Toshiyuki Tsunenari
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AP
March 14, 2011
Rescue workers found an elderly man alive and buried under rubble in Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture.
Hiroaki Ohno
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AP
April 19, 2011
A caregiver assisted Sueko Suzuki, 87, at an evacuation center for hospital patients in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
March 17, 2011
In Onagawa, Yoshikatsu Hiratsuka wept beside a pile of wreckage under which his mother's body was trapped.
Hiroto Sekiguchi
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AP
March 14, 2011
The force of the wave deposited a boat atop a building in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture.
Yomiuri Shimbun
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AFP/Getty Images
March 11, 2011
Cars at a shipping facility in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki prefecture, were tossed amid the floodwaters.
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AFP/Getty Images
March 14, 2011
Smoke rose from the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after an explosion at the crippled facility.
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Digital Globe
April 8, 2011
A Japanese soldier wearing a protective radiation suit peered from the back of a military truck in the Odaka area of Minamisoma, inside the deserted 20-kilometer evacuation radius established around the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
David Guttenfelder
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AP
March 14, 2011
Evacuated from the area around Fukushima Daiichi, a mother and daughter were separated by glass after the younger woman was isolated to be examined for signs of radiation.
Yuriko Nakao
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Reuters
March 13, 2011
Children were scanned for radiation in Koriyama.
Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Reuters
March 11, 2011
Workers inspected a caved-in section of a prefectural road in Satte, Saitama prefecture, after the earthquake.
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AP
March 11, 2011
Residents viewed the earthquake damage in Sukagawa city, Fukushima prefecture.
Fukushima Minpo
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AFP/Getty Images
April 6, 2011
A boy in Ishinomaki played with a toy car while a full-scale automobile, tossed by the waves, still sat upended against a building.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
April 8, 2011
A motorcyclist rode through waterlogged streets amid the rubble of Ishinomaki.
Jiji Press
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AFP/Getty Images
May 30, 2011
Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, was reduced to rubble. A mannequin's arm stuck out of the wreckage.
David Guttenfelder
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AP
March 12, 2011
A soldier helped an elderly man to safety as smoke rose from fires in Yamada, Iwate prefecture.
Yomiuri Shimbun
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AFP/Getty Images
March 24, 2011
A woman read a list of the dead in Minamisanriku, a resort town that was almost completely destroyed.
David Guttenfelder
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AP
April 20, 2011
A cherry tree in bloom offered a small symbol of hope amid the destruction in Kamaishi city, Iwate prefecture.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
March 19, 2011
Tayo Kitamura knelt beside the shrouded body of her mother, Kuniko, after she was discovered dead inside the ruins of her home in Onagawa.
David Guttenfelder
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AP
April 11, 2011
One month after the tsunami hit, Buddhist monks, Japan Self-Defense Force personnel, firefighters and other relief workers observed a moment of silence from atop Hiyori Yama, or Weather Hill, in Natori, Miyagi prefecture. Local fishermen customarily climbed the man-made hump and decide whether it was safe to fish.
Koichi Nakamura
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AP
March 14, 2011
Piles of cars were wedged into walls in the seaside town of Yotsukura.
Mark Baker
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AP
March 2, 2012
At a temporary community center in Ishinomaki, Kikuko Abe laughed as her grandchlldren, Iroha Kodama, 8, and Naiki Kodama, 15, played handheld video games. Ishinomaki is slowly recovering a year after the tsunami.
Daniel Berehulak
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Getty Images
Nov. 9, 2011
An ostrich believed to have run away from an ostrich farm bounds through the abandoned fishing port town of Tomioka, in the no-entry zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture.
Eiji Kaji
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Yomiuri Shimbun
April 14, 2011
Residents in hard-hit Kesennuma took outdoor baths.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
March 5, 2012
Blocks of temporary housing were blanketed by snow in Minamisanriku.
Daniel Berehulak
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Getty Images
March 2, 2012
In Natori, photographs and other personal effects found during cleanup waited in a school gym for people to claim them.
Daniel Berehulak
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Getty Images
April 17, 2011
Keiko Naruse, who came to Rikuzentaka, Iwate prefecture along with her husband to bring relief supplies, paused for a moment of silence.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
Sept. 11, 2011
A boy prayed for victims of the tsunami in Ishinomaki.
Toshifumi Kitamura
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AFP/Getty Images
April 21, 2011
At an evacuation center in Kesennuma, Yuka Chiba, 13, got ready for her first day back to school as her grandmother Aiko Chiba, 69, looked on.
Hiro Komae
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AP
Nov. 12, 2011
Dressed in protective gear, officials passed by buildings at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant. The meltdowns at the plant constituted the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
David Guttenfelder
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Bloomberg
May 12, 2011
A Self-Defense Force soldier worked on cleanup in Kesennuma.
Junji Kurokawa
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AP
Nov. 14, 2011
Cows died when they were left behind by farmers forced to flee the evacuation zone around Fukushima Daiichi.
Kenji Chiga
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For The Washington Post
Aug. 6, 2011
A field of sunflowers, planted at a Buddhist temple in Fukushima prefecture, was intended to help absorb radioactive fallout from the crippled nuclear plant. Similar tactics were used after Chernobyl.
Yuriko Nakao
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Reuters
June 24, 2011
Former residents of the town of Okuma, near the stricken power plant, wore protective gear as they returned home to pray for tsunami victims at a memorial service.
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AFP/Getty Images
Sept. 11, 2011
Residents of Iwanuma city, Miyagi prefecture lit candles as they marked six months since the tsunami.
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AP
April 28, 2011
Volunteers helped clean a tsunami-hit cemetery at Jionin temple in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture.
Hiro Komae
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AP
May 23, 2011
A salvage crane lifted a large ship that was washed ashore in Kesennuma.
Junji Kurokawa
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AP
Nov. 5, 2011
The Dalai Lama embraced a kindergarten student at a temple in Ishinomaki, where the Tibetan Buddhist leader visited and conducted a memorial service.
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AP
Aug. 8, 2011
Residents and tourists pulled a decorated float through the wreckage in Rikuzentakata, as the city went ahead with its annual Fighting Star Festival despite the disaster.
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AP
March 13, 2011/January 2012
Two days after the tsunami, Yuko Sugimoto, wrapped in a blanket, searched for her son, Raito, amid the wreckage of Ishinomaki. Mother and son were reunited, and months later, in January 2012, they stood on the same spot, cleared of debris.
Toru Yamanaka
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AFP/Getty Images
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