Japan Earthquake: The Struggle to Recover
ALAN TAYLOR | MAR 16, 2011 | 37 PHOTOS | IN FOCUS
Nearly a week has passed since Japan suffered its worst crisis since World War II. More than 4,000 have been confirmed killed and more than 8,000 remain missing after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck the northeast coast of Japan six days ago. The hundreds of thousands now displaced by the quake, the ensuing tsunami -- and now, fears of radioactivity -- are scattered across the country, finding shelter and aid where they can, as they begin to rebuild their lives as survivors. Search-and-rescue teams from several countries have now joined Japanese forces, scouring the vast fields of rubble that were neighborhoods and towns just last week. Collected here are recent images of the ongoing recovery efforts and of Japanese citizens coping with this historic disaster.
A Japanese home drifts in the Pacific Ocean in this photograph taken on March 13, 2011 and released on March 14. Ships and aircrafts from the U.S. Navy's Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group are searching for survivors in the coastal waters near Sendai, Japan, in the wake of 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that officials say claimed at least 10,000 lives.
REUTERS/U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan McCord
Heavy snow falls on rubble and rescue workers at a devastated factory area hit by an earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, northern Japan March 16, 2011.
REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A rescue helicopter lowers a man in search of victims along a remote hillside near Kesennuma City on March 15, 2011, days after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.
REUTERS/Adrees Latif
A woman uses her phone after she found a quiet place at a shelter for those evacuated away from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant Wednesday, March 16, 2011, in Koriyama, Japan.
AP Photo/Gregory Bull
A car destroyed by the March 11 tsunami is surrounded by other debris in the city of Kesennuma in Miyagi prefecture on March 16, 2011.
PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images
Medical staff use a Geiger counter to screen a photographer for possible radiation exposure at a public welfare center in Niigata, northern Japan March 16, 2011. Radiation has been released into the atmosphere at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. on the country's northeast coast, which was badly damaged after a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao
A truck dangles from a collapsed bridge in Ishinomaki, northern Japan, Tuesday, March 15, 2011, four days after a powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami hit the country's east coast.
AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Hiroshi Adachi
A woman walks away from a message wall after writing a message to the victims of last week's earthquake and tsunami in Japan in central Seoul, South Korea on March 16, 2011.
REUTERS/Truth Leem
Tsunami debris scattered over a devastated area of Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, seen on March 14, 2011. Japan's government on March 15 urged people against panic-buying of food and supplies, as the country grapples with an earthquake and tsunami and resulting nuclear crisis.
STR/AFP/Getty Images
Bodies of victims are seen partly covered at a village destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture, northeast Japan on March 15, 2011.
REUTERS/Toru Hanai
Japanese vehicles pass through the ruins of the leveled city of Minamisanriku, northeastern Japan, Tuesday March 15, 2011.
AP Photo/David Guttenfelder
A general view of a darkened Tokyo skyline during peak hour, dark due to power cuts after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck on March 11th. Photo taken on March 15, 2011 in Tokyo, Japan.
Adam Pretty/Getty Images
Tokyo Electric Co. employees in charge of public relations use a photo of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex to explain the situation during a press conference Wednesday, March 16, 2011 in Tokyo, Japan. The outer housing of the containment vessel at the No. 4 unit at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex erupted in flames early Wednesday, said a spokesman for the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.
AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko
A shopper looks at the empty shelves in a supermarket in Moriyama, Japan, Tuesday, March 15, 2011, four days after a giant quake and tsunami struck the country's northeastern coast.
AP Photo/Mark Baker
Rescue workers search through rubble in an area hit by an earthquake and tsunami in Otsuchi March 15, 2011.
REUTERS/Aly Song
A member of a British search and rescue team looks out from the window of a damaged house surrounded by debris from the tsunami, as snow falls in Kamaishi, Japan, Wednesday, March 16, 2011. Two search and rescue teams from the U.S. and a team from the U.K. with combined numbers of around 220 personnel searched the town for survivors Wednesday to help in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake and tsunami.
AP Photo/Matt Dunham
Heavy snow falls as members of the Japan Self-Defense Force arrive at the devastated residential area in Otsuchi March 16, 2011.
REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
A damaged replica of the Statue of Liberty stands next to tsunami damaged buildings, at Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture on March 15, 2011.
KIM JAE-HWAN/AFP/Getty Images
Evacuees stretch while doing exercise at a makeshift shelter in Minamisanriku, northern Japan, Tuesday, March 15, 2011.
AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Tsuyoshi Matsumoto
Tea is brewed in a traditional Japanese tea pot at a collective center for evacuees in Otsuchi March 15, 2011.
REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
Kiyomi Kimura (right) hugs her daughter Manami Numakura after Numakura found her mother at a shelter in the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture on March 15, 2011.
JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images
This photo taken on March 14, 2011 shows a rescuer's glove during rescue operations in the devastated city of Sendai, Miyagi prefecture.
STR/AFP/Getty Images
Rescue workers carry a charred body from the rubble onto a truck from a village destroyed by the devastating earthquake, fires and tsunami March 16, 2011 in Kesennuma, Miyagi province, Japan.
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
U.S. Air Force and Marine personnel look out over debris left at Sendai airport on March 13, 2011.
REUTERS/US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Samuel Morse
A CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 265 lands at an improvised landing zone in Sendai on March 14, 2011.
REUTERS/US Marine Corps/Gunnery Sgt. Leo A. Salinas
A man looks on at a shelter for those displaced by the earthquake Wednesday, March 16, 2011, in Koriyama, Japan.
AP Photo/Gregory Bull
Policemen gather around the covered bodies of victims retrieved from the debris in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, days after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, March 16, 2011.
REUTERS/Adrees Latif
Earthquake victims read newspapers around a fire in Otsuchi, northern Japan Wednesday, March 16, 2011, after Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami.
AP Photo/Yomiuri Shimbun, Yoichi Hayashi
A Japan Self-Defense Force officer retrieves a photo album from the ruins of the devastated residential area of Otsuchi as heavy snow falls March 16, 2011.
REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
A resident walks in an area damaged by tsunami as the debris among the trees shows the height of the tsunami at a village in Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan on March 16, 2011.
REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak
Heavy snow falls as members of the Japan Self-Defense Force arrive at the devastated residential area in Otsuchi March 16, 2011.
REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
A man holds his dog as they wait to be scanned for radiation exposure at a temporary scanning center for residents living close to the quake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant Wednesday, March 16, 2011, in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
AP Photo/Gregory Bull
A classroom devastated by tsunami is seen at an elementary school in Otsuchi, Iwate, northern Japan Monday, March 14, 2011 following Friday's massive earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.
AP Photo/Tokyo Shimbun, Masahiro Kawayanagi
A woman cries as she holds the hand of her dead mother buried in mud after an earthquake and a tsunami in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan March 16, 2011.
REUTERS/Kyodo
Firefighters fight a blaze in Kesennuma City, northeast Japan on March 15, 2011, days after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.
REUTERS/Adrees Latif
A house lies damaged in a river going through Kesennuma City on March 15, 2011.
REUTERS/Adrees Latif
Yukie Ito (left) tries to comfort her daughter Hana, 8, at a cold refugee center for the homeless March 16, 2011 in Kesennuma, Miyagi province, Japan.
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
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