Disaster Resilience

2012-04-01

FORUM Staff

Residents light a lantern during a memorial service for victims of the March 11 disaster in Soma, Fukushima prefecture, on September 10, 2011.[FORUM Staff]

On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami wreaked havoc on Japan’s northeast coast. The powerful shaking and flooding caused hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of damage, left more than 21,000 people dead or missing, and forever changed the lives of millions more.

In this photo essay, photographers reveal the extent of the devastation caused by the waves that surged to more than 40 meters high and the resolve of a nation to return to normalcy. Once the search for survivors ended, members of the government and military, residents, foreign military and relief workers pulled together to overcome tough challenges. Together, they quickly regained control of damaged nuclear power plants and started removing the estimated 25 million tons of rubble.

Countries heal in their own ways. Although the impact of the disaster will linger for some time, green grass and new construction have already replaced many of the mountains of debris. Planes and ships come and go from ports the tsunami turned ghostly that devastating day last March. Cars once again travel roads that had been rendered impassable by rubble. Commuters and schoolchildren prepare anew for the next big quake.

Images taken immediately after the cataclysmic event and during the months since reveal how far Japan has come. Given the remarkable pace at which Japan cleaned up and started to rebuild, other countries might learn not only from the nation’s culture of preparedness and process of recovery but also from its resiliency.

The disaster zone in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, on June 18, 2011. [AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE]

A road in Iwaki, Fukushima prefecture, on March 11, 2011, and on September 1. [THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]

A U.S. Soldier clears debris from the train tracks at Rikuzen-ono Station in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi prefecture, on April 24, 2011. [AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE]

A lone tree survived the March 11 quake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture. Dubbed the “pine of hope,” the tree, photographed on August 15, 2011, attracted visitors in the aftermath. [THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]

Police from Miyagi prefecture conduct a search in Yamamoto-cho in September 2011. In disaster situations, cooperation among law enforcement, the military, government agencies and nonprofit groups is essential, experts say. [THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]

Debris covered an expanse in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, on March 15, 2011. Cleanup crews had cleared the larger rubble by June 4. Grass reclaimed the land by September 1, fewer than six months after the tsunami struck. [THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]

Students from Oya Primary School in Miyagi prefecture harvest rice in October 2011 in paddies that had been covered with debris just months earlier. [THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]

A worker walks near the 4,724-ton Asia Symphony freighter on August 24, 2011. The tsunami pushed the freighter onto the harbor wall in Kamaishi port, but months of repairs will allow the vessel to return to sea. [AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE]

Wakana Kumagai, 6, stands near her mother and brother on September 11, 2011, as they visit the spot where their house used to stand in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi prefecture. The tsunami killed her father, Kazuyuki. [REUTERS]

The tsunami floods parked a sightseeing boat atop a two-story inn in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture, in northeastern Japan, as photographed on April 6, 2011. By June 3, residents had removed the craft. [THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]

Japanese elementary schoolchildren wear fireproof hoods on September 1, 2011, during the first national earthquake drill since the March 2011 disaster. [AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE]

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