The central part of the town of Minamisanriku on March 12, 2011, a day after it was flattened by a massive tsunami triggered by Japan's strongest recorded earthquake.
Reuters
Family photo albums among the ruins of the devastated residential area of Otsuchi on March 15.
Reuters
Cracks on the snow-covered ground in woodlands near the earthquake and tsunami-devastated town of Sendai on March 12.
Reuters
Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan reacts as he feels an earthquake while attending a committee meeting in the upper house of parliament in Tokyo on March 11.
Reuters
An emergency worker disperses disinfectant in Miyako on March 14.
Reuters
A woman carries her belongings away from her tsunami-stricken home in Rikuzentakata on March 12.
Reuters
A pleasure boat sits on top of a building amid a sea of debris in Otsuchi town in Iwate prefecture on March 14.
AFP
Smoke billows from fires raging at the port in Tagajo, Miyagi prefecture, on March 13.
AFP
A girl, wrapped in a blanket, in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi prefecture, on March 13.
AFP
Image of the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant on March 14.
AFP
A survivor pushes his bicycle through the ruins of the devastated town of Otsuchi on March 14.
Reuters
An elderly woman from the vicinity of the Fukushima nuclear power plant sits at an evacuation centre in a gymnasium in Kawamata on March 14.
Reuters
Military personnel search for victims among the debris at Rikuzentakada City on March 13.
Keystone
Rescue workers move the body of a patient through the halls of a hospital in Minamisanriku town on March 14.
Reuters
People shop for food from almost empty shelves at a supermarket in Tokyo on March 16.
Reuters
Japanese vehicles pass through the ruins of the razed city of Minamisanriku on March 15.
Keystone
A woman uses her phone at a shelter for those evacuated from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant on March 16.
Keystone
Military personnel clear debris in Ofunato on March 16.
Keystone
A satellite image on March 15 shows the Fukushima Dai-Ni nuclear power plant after the earthquake.
AFP
Employees in charge of public relations at Tokyo Electric explain the situation of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex at a press conference on March 16.
Keystone
Residents return to their evacuation shelter during a snowfall on March 16.
Keystone
Women in an evacuation centre near Rikuzentakata, northern Japan check a list of survivors .
Reuters
A man is scanned for radiation exposure at a temporary scanning centre for residents living close to the quake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant on March 16.
Keystone
As snow and winter temperatures return to northern Japan, a Japanese family walks through the devastated remains of Kamaishi city on March 16.
Keystone
A mother and daughter hug after finding each other at a shelter in the city of Ishinomaki on March 15.
AFP
The devastation in Japan and survivors who are trying to rebuild their lives.
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More than 10,000 people are feared to have been killed in Japan by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and a subsequent tsunami. Adding to the difficulties is a worsening nuclear crisis: on March 16 authorities ordered emergency workers to withdraw from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant amid a surge in radiation. The same day Emperor Akihito urged the Japanese people not to give up. (All images Reuters, Keystone and AFP)
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