The Japan earthquake struck at 2:46pm on March 11, 2011, almost one full year ago today. Shortly afterward the Japanese shoreline was stuck by tsunami waves, some as high as 40 metres.
The country was devastated by the disaster. Almost 16,000 people were killed and almost 3,500 are still missing. It lead to a nuclear plant disaster eclipsed only by the Chernobyl meltdown. The reconstruction will cost the country more than a quarter-trillion dollars. And Japanese officials are still searching for more bodies of those swept away in the disaster.
Yet in the face of this the Japanese people have shown a resolve to rebuilt better and stronger than before. On Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama commented on this:
“We continue to be inspired by the Japanese people, who faced unimaginable loss with extraordinary fortitude. Their resilience and determination to rebuild stronger than before is an example for us all,” Obama said.
With that in mind, we take a look at a series of photos that look at Japan right after the tsunami and earthquake and photos from the same place after clean-up and reconstruction.
DISASTER BY THE NUMBERS
245 — Cost in billions of dollars of the post disaster reconstruction package.
15,846 — Number of dead.
3,320 — People still missing.
2 — Number of missing people found dead this year.
240 — Number of orphans in the three most severely affected prefectures, Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima.
16 — Million tons of disaster waste in Miyagi Prefecture, one of the hardest hit areas of Japan.
2.4 — Drop in millions of tourists to Japan in 2011 from a year previously.
6 — Approximate months lost in the average life expectancy for a Japanese woman following the disasters, down from 86.4 years in 2010 to 85.9 in 2011.
3 — Approximate months lost in the average life expectancy for a Japanese man, down from 79.5 years in 2010 to 79.27 in 2011.