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Massive reconstruction, cleanup efforts underway in Japan After the earthquake and tsunami, entire towns in Japan have been destroyed. But reconstruction teams are fanning out in what will be a lengthy, complex endeavor.
May 3, 2011
Itsuki Mogi, 11, left, and and Umi Mogi, 12, watch the sea water in a street outside their house in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The area in this part of the city sunk nearly 2 feet 7 inches following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Junji Kurokawa
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AP
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May 3, 2011
A man walks through a flooded street at high tide in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
Junji Kurokawa
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AP
May 3, 2011
People wearing rubber boots walk through a flooded street at high tide after helping residents clean up debris in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.
Junji Kurokawa
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AP
May 3, 2011
A boy pedals a bicycle through sea water as high tide proceeds to land area in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. The March 11 earthquake that hit eastern Japan was so powerful it pulled the entire country out and down into the sea. The mostly devastated coastal communities now face regular flooding, because of their lower elevation and damage to sea walls from the massive tsunamis triggered by the quake.
Junji Kurokawa
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AP
May 3, 2011
Sea water in the canal rises at high tide in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
Junji Kurokawa
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AP
April 25, 2011
Elementary schoolchildren wear protective headgear as they walk to school in Tokyo. Because of aftershocks, some schools in Tokyo have asked their students to wear the protective headgear to and from school since March 11's deadly earthquake and tsunami.
Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Reuters
April 24, 2011
Renka Hashimoto, 7, center, and Maika Kakinuma, 8, receive Easter eggs after the Easter service at Kesennuma Bible Baptist Church in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture. This Easter, the story of resurrection carried a personal message for the small community of Christians in disaster-hit Japan.
Hiro Komae
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AP
April 24, 2011
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, right, listens to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, second from left, and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama at the upper house budget committee session at the National Diet in Tokyo. In parliament, Kan faced new pressure over the nuclear disaster triggered when the tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima number 1 nuclear power plant, the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl, which hit 25 years ago on April 26.
Yoshikazu Tsuno
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AFP/Getty Images
April 24, 2011
A protester wearing a gas mask takes part in an anti-nuclear power rally in Tokyo. Recovery efforts have been complicated by the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which lost its power and cooling systems in the earthquake and tsunami, triggering fires, explosions and radiation leaks in the world's second-worst nuclear accident.
Itsuo Inouye
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AP
April 24, 2011
Japanese soldiers search a stream at Minami Soma, northeastern Japan.
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AP
April 24, 2011
A cherry blossom tree in full bloom is pictured against the tsunami-devastated town of Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture. Nearly 25,000 Japanese troops will start a new search for bodies along the Pacific coast, where about 12,000 people are still missing after the earthquake.
Kazuhiro Nogi
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AFP/Getty Images
April 23, 2011
Japan's Emperor Akihito, center left, and Empress Michiko, center right, tour the Otsu fishing port, which was heavily damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Kitaibaraki, Ibaraki prefecture.
Itsuo Inouye
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AP
April 22, 2011
Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Masataka Shimizu, center, and company officials (wearing blue jackets) kneel as they bow to residents living in an evacuation center in Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture, 44 miles from the tsunami-crippled nuclear reactor. This was Shimizu's first visit to an evacuation center since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged a nuclear plant in northern Japan, sparking the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.
Kyodo
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Reuters
April 22, 2011
A wooden cross stands amid the tsunami devastation at a place where a church used to stand in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture. Japan on April 22 announced a $49 billion special budget for areas devastated by last month's quake and tsunami and said it would extend an evacuation zone around a nuclear plant crippled by the disaster.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
April 20, 2011
New students react as a traditional tiger dance is performed during a entrance ceremony at Kamaishi elementary school in Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture, after the area was devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Nineteen new students took part in the entrance ceremony which was held 13 days late due to the natrual disaster.
Toru Hanai
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Reuters
April 20, 2011
New student Rika Kikuchi has her new school hat put on by her grandmother after a entrance ceremony at Kamaishi elementary school in Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture. Rika lost her father in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Toru Hanai
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Reuters
April 20, 2011
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members stand in front of destroyed cars in the area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in the port town of Kesennuma, Iwate prefecture.
Sergey Ponomarev
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AP
April 19, 2011
High school students stand before tsunami devastation in Miyako, Iwate prefecture. The Japanese government urged local authorities, businesses and citizens not to discriminate against evacuees from the area around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
Toshifumi Kitamura
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AFP/Getty Images
April 19, 2011
People sort out food in an evacuation center in an area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in the port town of Kesennuma, Iwate prefecture.
Sergey Ponomarev
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AP
April 19, 2011
Shizuko Abe, right, 67, helps her paralyzed 73-year-old husband, Yoshio, eat at an evacuation center for hospital patients displaced by the earthquake and tsunami, in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
April 19, 2011
Local resident Kiyoto Kudo wades through a water-covered road to his home at an area flooded at the time of a high tide because of land sinkage caused by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture.
Toru Hanai
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Reuters
April 18, 2011
Tsunami victim Yasuo Miura, right, his wife, Noriko, left, and daughter Yuka, second from left, look at their photographs, which were washed away by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, after receiving them from volunteer Atsuko Sato in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture. Their photographs were found by the Japan Self-Defense Force, and they were delivered to the family by volunteers after cleaning.
Toru Hanai
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Reuters
April 18, 2011
The body of a victim, center, found amid the rubble, is seen in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, more than one month after the area was devastated by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami.
Toru Hanai
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Reuters
April 18, 2011
Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Masataka Shimizu raises his hand to answer questions during an Upper House Budget Committee meeting at Parliament in Tokyo. Shimizu was summoned by the Budget Committee for the first time since the trouble at the company's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant started on March 11, following the earthquake and tsunami.
Shizuo Kambayashi
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AP
April 18, 2011
Japanese workers are seen near the grounded ships in an area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in the port town of Kesennuma, Iwate prefecture, Japan.
Sergey Ponomarev
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AP
April 17, 2011
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton greets children of employees at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. Families were allowed back Friday, after warnings had been lifted following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
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Reuters
April 17, 2011
Keiko Naruse, who brought relief supplies together with her husband, has a moment of silence as she attends "Hanami" or flower viewing in the tsunami devastated area in Rikuzentaka city, Iwate prefecture.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
April 16, 2011
A protester clad in protective gear holds a sign during an anti-nuclear demonstration in Tokyo. About 1,500 protesters took to the streets in Tokyo's Shibuya district Saturday, calling for the closure of nuclear power plants after radiation leakage at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant raised fears of contamination. The sign reads, "Tokyo Electric Power is supplying fresh radiation for free."
Yuriko Nakao
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Reuters
April 16, 2011
A girl wearing a hat sits in her stroller as she takes part in an anti-nuclear protest with her mother in Tokyo.
Yuriko Nakao
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Reuters
April 16, 2011
Fish are grilled after Takizawa village residents distributed them to tsunami survivors in Yamada, in Japan's Iwate prefecture.
Toshifumi Kitamura
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AFP/Getty Images
April 16, 2011
An excavator removes marine products, mostly squid, from chilled storage units destroyed by the tsunami beside the port in Yamada, Iwate prefecture.
Toshifumi Kitamura
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AFP/Getty Images
April 16, 2011
The display model of a whale sits among tsunami-generated debris as whale skeletons hang from the ceiling at the Whale and Ocean Science Museum in Yamada, Iwate prefecture.
Toshifumi Kitamura
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AFP/Getty Images
April 16, 2011
A man walks next to damaged cars in an area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture.
Toru Hanai
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Reuters
April 15, 2011
Collared dogs roam a street in Futaba, Fukushima prefecture. The damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant forced the evacuation of the town.
Hiro Komae
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Associated Press
April 15, 2011
New student Akane Kato smiles after receiving a new school satchel, which was given by "Save the Children" at Omagari elementary school in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi prefecture.
Toru Hanai
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Reuters
April 15, 2011
Tsunami victims gather and discuss plans regarding temporary housing in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
April 14, 2011
A shrine rests in the woods, displaced by the recent tsunami in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
April 14, 2011
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel, wearing protective suits, search for victims at sea in an area that was devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture.
Toru Hanai
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Reuters
Toya Chiba, a reporter for local newspaper Iwate Tokai Shimbun, is swept by a tsunami at Kamaishi port, Iwate prefecture in this recently released image.
KYODO
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REUTERS
Residents take an out door bath amongst tsunami devastation in Kesennuma city.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA
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AFP/GETTY IMAGES
April 14, 2011
A member of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force searches for victims at an area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture.
Toru Hanai
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Reuters
April 13, 2011
Kazuo Shiga, 74, pets his dog, Zon, at his home in Minami Soma, Fukushima prefecture. The city is inside the evacuation zone within a 12.5-mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Hiro Komae
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AP
April 13, 2011
Passengers await departure from Sendai airport in Natori city, Miyagi prefecture. Commercial flights to this coastal city resumed partially Wednesday, just over a month after a 32-foot tsunami scoured the airport's runways.
Sergey Ponomarev
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AP
April 13, 2011
Japanese women search for family albums and belongings among a pile of items recovered from the area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and displayed in a school gym in Natori, Miyagi prefecture, Japan.
Sergey Ponomarev
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AP
April 13, 2011
Tsunami-damaged vehicles are collected at a car pool in Sendai. Toyota told U.S. dealers that assembly disruptions triggered by last month's record earthquake and tsunami in Japan may thin supplies of vehicles into the third quarter.
Tomohiro Ohsumi
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Bloomberg
April 12, 2011
A man looks for his personal belongings at a collection center for items found in the rubble of an area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, in Natori.
Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Reuters
April 12, 2011
Family photos that were washed away by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami are placed to dry before cleaning at a volunteer center in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture.
Toru Hanai
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Reuters
April 12, 2011
Elementary school children crouch under their desks at their school in Onagawa, Miyagi prefecture, during an aftershock. Japan added to the evacuation zone around the stricken nuclear plant, as a powerful aftershock rattled the nation a month after its biggest recorded earthquake wrought devastation.
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AFP/Getty Images
April 11, 2011
A buddhist monk prays for earthquake victims at a burial site one month after the earthquake and tsunami struck in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi prefecture.
Athit Perawongmetha
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Getty Images
April 11, 2011
Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force members take a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m., exactly a month after a massive earthquake struck the area in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture.
Yasuhiro Takami
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AP
April 11, 2011
Evacuees take a moment of silence in a gymnasium used as an evacuation center at 2:46 p.m., a month after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, in Onagawa, Miyagi prefecture.
Tomohiro Ohsumi
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Bloomberg
April 11, 2011
A survivor rests after she took a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m., exactly a month after a massive earthquake struck the area in Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture.
Lee Jin-Man
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AP
April 11, 2011
A survivor checks a personal item as photos found in the rubble hang down from ropes in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture.
Manabu Kato
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AP
April 10, 2011
Tsunami survivor Tadao Kamei and a friend draw the words "Ganbaro!" or "hang in there" on a new billboard lit up with car headlights in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture. Prime Minister Naoto Kan promised he would "never abandon" survivors of Japan's tsunami as he tried to focus attention on the future, despite a high-stakes battle at a nuclear plant.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
April 9, 2011
Earthquake victims line up for food at an evacuation shelter in Fukushima, Japan. The death toll from the March 11 quake and tsunami continued to rise, with more than 20,000 dead or missing.
Athit Perawongmetha
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Getty Images
April 8, 2011
Workers inspect a part of Tohoku Expressway, near Hiraizumi-Maesawa interchange, collapsed by Thursday night's strong aftershock in Oshu, Iwate prefecture. The aftershock ripped through northeastern Japan, killing two people, knocking out power to vast areas and piling misery on a region still buried under the rubble of March's devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Manabu Kato
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Associated Press
April 9, 2011
A Japanese police officer undergoes testing for possible nuclear radiation at a screening center in Minamisoma, about 20 miles from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Athit Perawongmetha
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Getty Images
April 5, 2011
Journalists film the Onagawa nuclear power plant in Onagawa, Miyagi prefecture. Some radioactive water splashed out of the pools at the plant after a strong aftershock April 7 but did not leave a containment building, Tohoku Electric Power said.
Ji Chunpeng
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Xinhua News Agency via Associated Press
April 8, 2011
Hotel guests are seen after they evacuated the building following an aftershock, in Ichinoseki, Iwate prefecture. Japan was rattled by a strong aftershock and tsunami warning Thursday night nearly a month after a devastating earthquake and tsunami flattened the northeastern coast.
Lee Jin-man
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Associated Press
April 8, 2011
A boy is tested for possible nuclear radiation at an evacuation center in Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture.
Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Reuters
April 8, 2011
A man rides a motorcycle through water in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi prefecture.
Jiji Press
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AFP/Getty Images
April 8, 2011
A volunteer staff member in costume peps up displaced people at a shelter near the area devastated by the March 11 tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture.
Tsuyoshi Matsumoto
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AP
April 7, 2011
Tsunami survivors walk along the shore protection blocks in Sendai in Miyagi prefecture. Armed with radiation meters and protective gear, police launched an intensive search for people missing inside the exclusion zone around Japan's disaster-stricken nuclear power plant.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
April 7, 2011
A dog rescued from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami is caged at Abe Pet Clinic in Ishinomaki. The pet clinic became the main headquarters for treating and sheltering animals in Ishinomaki since the disaster struck the country.
Carlos Barria
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Reuters
April 7, 2011
A tsunami victim reads a manga at a school, which now acts as a shelter, in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture.
Toru Hanai
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Reuters
April 6, 2011
Fisherman Rikio Furukawa, 76, repairs fishing equipment at the Kuji fishing port in Hitachi, Ibaraki prefecture,
Issei Kato
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Reuters
April 5, 2011
A washed-up house stands on the shoreline in Onagawa, Miyagi prefecture.
Yasuyoshi Chiba
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AFP/Getty Images
April 4, 2011
A replica of the Statue of Liberty is seen in an area destroyed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Ishinomaki, northern Japan. Tokyo Electric said on Monday it would release more than 10,000 tons of contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea to free up more storage space for water that had much higher levels of radioactivity.
Carlos Barria
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Reuters
April 4, 2011
A warms himself by a fire near a shelter at an area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture.
Lee Jin-Man
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AP
April 2, 2011
A pet dog is tested for nuclear radiation at an evacuation center in Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan.
Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Reuters
March 31, 2011
Katsuyuki Takahashi stands behind the portraits of his parents and aunt that he recovered from a destroyed family house in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture.
Damir Sagolj
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Reuters
Volunteer students clean mud from tsunami-flood waters in their high school gymnasium during a joint operation with the U.S. military and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, Wednesday in Ishinomaki, Japan.
Wally Santana
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AP
March 29, 2011
Two woman help each other in the ruins of their neighborhood as they try to retrieve some belongings in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture.
Damir Sagolj
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Reuters
March 29, 2011
A survivor rests at a shelter in the devastated town of Watari, Miyagi prefecture, northeastern Japan.
Vincent Yu
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AP
March 28, 2011
Earthquake victims wait for medical care at a hospital in Ishinomaki, Japan. Thousands of people are packed into various evacuation centers, causing health problems for the elderly and some children.
Paula Bronstein
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Getty Images
March 28, 2011
Girls jump rope in a classroom of a school that serves as a shelter for survivors of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture.
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AP
March 25, 2011
Yoshiko Sugawara, a 70-year-old tsunami survivor, cries as her niece leaves on a boat named "Sunflower" from the island of Oshima for the mainland. Sunflower sails to bring food, clothing and families to isolated earthquake and tsunami victims on Japan's Oshima Island off the northeastern Sanriku coast.
Damir Sagolj
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Reuters
March 23, 2011
Members of the Japanese Self-Defense Force recover items from a damaged building in Tarou, north of Morika in Iwate prefecture.
Roslan Rahman
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AFP/Getty Images
March 23, 2011
Members of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force salute after laying a coffin during a burial ceremony for the March 11 tsunami victims in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi prefecture, Japan.
Mark Baker
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AP
March 22, 2011
Takeshi Yokoyama, 70, and his wife, Umeko, 64, carry boxes of food near the Kyotoku-maru fishing trawler in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, nearly two weeks after the area was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami. The newest landmark in the tsunami-stricken city of Kesennuma is the massive fishing trawler that was swept up at sea and came to rest on one of the main roads to City Hall.
Issei Kato
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Reuters
March 22, 2011
Hazuki Oka, right, from Minamisoma in Fukushima, waits for her turn while her brother Yukinari undergoes a screening test for signs of nuclear radiation by a doctor at a health center in Yonezawa, northern Japan, about 60 miles from the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Reuters
March 19, 2011
Tayo Kitamura, 40, kneels in the street to caress and talk to the wrapped body of her mother Kuniko Kitamura, 69, after Japanese firefighters discovered the dead woman inside the ruins of her home in Onagawa, northeastern Japan.
Shuji Kajiyama
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AP
March 18, 2011
At an evacuation center in Kesennuma, Japan, Momoko Onodera prays as she talks about her husband, who died in the tsunami.
Paula Bronstein
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Getty Images
March 17, 2011
Officials scan people for radiation west of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
Ken Shimzu
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AFP/Getty Images
March 16, 2011
Patients lie on the floor of a hospital in Ishinomaki, northern Japan.
Daisuke Inouye
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Associated Press
March 17, 2011
A military helicopter drops water on the reactors at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in this still image taken from video footage.
Reuters TV
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Reuters
March 17, 2011
Thick smoke billows from the No. 3 unit of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okumamachi, Fukushima prefecture. A nearly completed new power line could restore cooling systems in Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant, its operator said.
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Associated Press
March 17, 2011
Fuyo Murakami, center, and her husband Yoshiro, left, say goodbye to a relative as they leave Rikuzentakata for Hokkaido in northern Japan.
Jiji Press
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AFP/Getty Images
March 16, 2011
People fill containers with water at a distribution point in Ofunato, Japan.
Nicholas Kamm
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AFP/Getty Images
March 15, 2011
Bodies found in the ruins of the devastated residential area of Otsuchi are collected in a sports hall.
Damir Sagolj
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Reuters
March 15, 2011
A baby is tested for radiation in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima prefecture in northern Japan.
Kyodo News
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Reuters
March 14, 2011
The No.3 nuclear reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant burns after a blast following an earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan. The nuclear complex, north of Tokyo, has already seen explosions at two of its reactors.
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DigitalGlobe
March 13, 2011
A woman reacts amid debris caused by Friday's massive earthquake and the ensuing tsunami, in Natori, northern Japan Sunday, March 13.
Toshiyuki Tsunenari
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AP
March 14, 2011
Rescue workers move the body of a patient through the halls of a hospital in Minamisanriku town.
Adrees Latif
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Reuters
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