REMEMBERING 3/11: Photos capture disaster zones now and then

March 08, 2012

A fishing vessel washed ashore by the tsunami, a train car lifted from its tracks by a wall of waves and a dimly lit gym packed with evacuees are some of the images forever etched in memory after the devastation wrought by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami last year.

Photographers from The Asahi Shimbun recently visited those sites in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures to see how things have changed--or not--ahead of the one-year anniversary of the disaster.

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Above left: The No. 18 Kyotoku Maru remains effectively intact in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 3, a year after it was washed ashore by the tsunami. It has yet to be decided whether to scrap or preserve the 50-meter-long, 10-meter-wide fishing vessel. (Eiji Hori); right: The area around the No. 18 Kyotoku Maru is covered with water, with plumes of smoke rising due to fires, on March 12, 2011. (The Asahi Shimbun)

Above left: The No. 18 Kyotoku Maru remains effectively intact in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 3, a year after it was washed ashore by the tsunami. It has yet to be decided whether to scrap or preserve the 50-meter-long, 10-meter-wide fishing vessel. (Eiji Hori); right: The area around the No. 18 Kyotoku Maru is covered with water, with plumes of smoke rising due to fires, on March 12, 2011. (The Asahi Shimbun)

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  • Above left: The No. 18 Kyotoku Maru remains effectively intact in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 3, a year after it was washed ashore by the tsunami. It has yet to be decided whether to scrap or preserve the 50-meter-long, 10-meter-wide fishing vessel. (Eiji Hori); right: The area around the No. 18 Kyotoku Maru is covered with water, with plumes of smoke rising due to fires, on March 12, 2011. (The Asahi Shimbun)
  • Top: Laughter from students taking a PE class echoes in the gym of Utatsu Junior High School in Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, on Feb. 28. (Shogo Koshida); bottom: The gym, which served as an evacuation shelter, is dimly lit due to a power outage on March 14, 2011. A graduation ceremony was originally scheduled to be held there March 12. (The Asahi Shimbun)
  • Above left: Vacant lots, particularly near the waterfront, are still conspicuous in a residential area in the Hisanohama-machi district of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on Feb. 22. (Eiji Hori); right: The tsunami swept through the area on March 11, 2011, leaving fires in its wake. (The Asahi Shimbun)
  • Top: A street has been cleared of rubble in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture. (Toshiyuki Hayashi); bottom: Damaged firetrucks block the same debris-covered street on March 13, 2011. (The Asahi Shimbun)
  • Top: A fallen train car has been removed from the tracks of the JR Ishinomaki Line in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture. The repairing of headstones in a cemetery and the clearing of damaged houses are nearly complete. (Minako Yoshimoto); bottom: A train car remains on its side on March 26, 2011, 15 days after being left there from the tsunami. (The Asahi Shimbun)