The Picture Show Before And After: Japan's Wreckage And Recovery
On March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m. (JST) Japan changed as a nation.
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the largest to ever hit the island
nation, and subsequent tsunami claimed more than 16,000 lives.
One year later, the recovery efforts continue, as does the
mourning. As much of Japan washed away, the rest of the world
experienced the story in images — scenes that showed a nation
crippled by the Earth's brute natural forces. And crippled by
man-made forces, too: Shortly after the tsunami came news of a
meltdown at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in northeast Japan
— the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. One year
later: Barges can still be seen in unlikely places on land; the
search for missing people continues; the damaged nuclear reactor
is still leaking. Though according to scientists, it's not
enough to be considered a threat. There has also been progress,
which we can see in images, too. The before-and-after
juxtaposition shows that fr