Almost a week after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck off the coast of Sendai, Japanese emergence personnel and citizens are still working through the wreckages to salvage, recover, and eventually rebuild what was lost.
This natural disaster has been extremely destructive. Casualties are expected to be at least 10,000. Many who were fortunate enough to survive had their homes and possessions wrecked by the tsunami. Factories were damaged and halted production, infrastructures like highways were damaged, and nuclear power plants have been shut down.
Out of this tragedy, heartwarming and inspiring stories have also emerged. There is the story of two dogs who became unlikely survivors of the tsunami. At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 50 workers - dubbed the Fukushima 50 -- have stayed behind to work to prevent a nuclear meltdown. By doing so, they are exposing themselves to dangerous amounts of radiation.
The following are photos of the wreckages of Japan's earthquake and the Japanese people who are left behind by it. Click Start to view them.
Survivors react after collecting their belongings at their destroyed house in a village hit by an earthquake and tsunami in Otsuchi, northeast Japan March 17, 2011. ReutersA red umbrella is seen among the ruins as survivors walk past in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, days after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami March 16, 2011.ReutersA resident looks at debris as she walks at a port of a village hit by an earthquake and tsunami in Otsuchi, northeast Japan March 17, 2011.ReutersAn injured survivor searches for food at a destroyed supermarket in the devastated residential area of Otsuchi March 15, 2011. In the fishermen town of Otsuchi in Iwate prefecture, 12,000 out of a population of 15,000 have disappeared following last Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami. ReutersA woman walks past snow-covered rubble in Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan, after an earthquake and tsunami struck the area March 16, 2011.ReutersA woman cries as she holds the hand of her dead mother buried in mud after an earthquake and a tsunami in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan March 16, 2011.ReutersA man rides a bicycle at an area hit by earthquake and tsunami in Kesennuma, north Japan, March 17, 2011.ReutersJapanese military personnel carry bodies of victims at a village destroyed by earthquake and tsunami in Yamadamachi, northeast Japan March 17, 2011.ReutersRescue workers walk past a destroyed car during heavy snowfall at a factory area devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, northern Japan March 16, 2011.ReutersEven as the workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant scrambled to remove radioactive water, earthquake-torn Japan now fights apparent nuclear leak into the ocean causing a sharp spike in levels of radioactive iodine.Reuters
