報道写真

報道写真　2011 東日本大震災

The most powerful earthquake and tsunami to hit Japan.

2011.03.11-

友人からもらった衣類や食料を背負い、自宅へ帰る９２歳の村上なつ江さん。家は無事だが、近所の店が閉店し物資の調達に苦労している＝３月２１日、宮城県石巻市

宮城県　名取市　03 11 15:55

宮古市

Toya Chiba, a reporter for local newspaper Iwate Tokai Shimbun, is swept up by a tsunami at Kamaishi port, Iwate prefecture during the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Chiba managed to survive the tsunami by grabbing a dangling rope and climbing onto a coal heap around 8 meters high after being swept away for about 30 meters, Kyodo news reports. Photo taken on March 11, 2011 and released by Kamaishi Port Office via Kyodo on April 14, 2011. (Reuters/Kamaishi Port Office via Kyodo)

Sendai airport was inundated with cars, trucks, buses and thick mud deposited over its runways. NHK television transmitted aerial images of flood waters engulfing the airport, where survivors clustered on the roof of the main building.

Kesennuma in Miyagi Prefecture

RETRANSMISSION WITH BETTER QUALITY - An earthquake-triggered tsunami washes away a warehouse and vehicles in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture (state), Japan, Friday, March 11, 2011. The ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan's eastern coasts. (AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun) JAPAN OUT, CREDIT MANDATORY

Newly released photographs of the tsumani that hit Sendai, Japan

茨城県　大洗町 IBARAKI

Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture

地震の津波が千葉県白子町の南白亀川河口に上ってきたのが確認された。この10分後には川の水が堤防を越えてあふれ出した　=11日、千葉県白子町南白亀川河口付近

A devastating tsunami hit the coast of northeast Japan on Friday in the aftermath of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake about 80 miles offshore. The quake churned up a devastating tsunami that swept over cities and farmland in the northern part of the country. Burning houses in Natori City in northeastern Japan.

Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture

Residents looking at destroyed buildings in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture.

Chiba

IBARAKI

Local residents look for survivors of a collapsed building following the Tohoku earthquake in Iwaki city, Fukushima prefecture, 12 March, 2011. The full extent of the damage in earthquake- ravaged Japan was revealed on 12 March 2011 morning, after an 8.9-magnitude tremblor and devastating tsunami rocked north-eastern Japan, killing well over 1,000 people, the government said. EPA

地震と火災でがれきと化した福島県いわき市の住宅街　＝１１日午後９時４２分

Haneda international airport in Tokyo

A boat slowly sinks in the Santa Cruz Harbor in Santa Cruz, California March 11, 2011. Thousands of people fled their homes along the California coast on Friday as a tsunami triggered by the massive earthquake in Japan began hitting the U.S. West Coast after rolling through Hawaii. (REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach)　11日、東日本大地震で発生した津波はアメリカ西海岸をも襲い、カリフォルニア州のサンタクルス港にあったボートも津波の被害で沈んだ。また津波の写真を撮影していた男性一人がのみこまれて死亡した。（ロイター）

Crescent City, California - March 11, 2011 - Damage at the Port of Crescent City. An 8.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan sent wave surges across the Pacific Ocean. Jamie Francis/The Oregonian

Yamadamach

Homes burned and ships were piled in a mass of debris in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture.

Firefighters, bottom, hose over still smoldering cars among hundreds vehicles being swept and caught fire following a devastating tsunami in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, Saturday morning, March 12, 2011, a day after strong earthquakes hit the area. (AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Atsushi Takedazu) JAPAN OUT, CREDIT MANDATORY

Hitachinaka, Ibaraki prefecture

A runway at Sendai airport in Sendai, northern Japan is covered with washed out cars and sand and earth Saturday, March 12, 2011 after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING ALLOWED IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCE

Factory facilities look damaged in an industrial complex in Sendai, northern Japan, Saturday, March 12, 2011. Japan launched a massive military rescue operation Saturday after a giant, quake-fed tsunami killed hundreds of people and turned the northeastern coast into a swampy wasteland, while authorities braced for a possible meltdown at a nuclear reactor. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

A large ship sits among rubble after it was swept by a tsunami to the city center of Kesennuma, northeastern Japan, on Saturday March 12, 2011, one day after a giant quake and tsunami struck the country's northeastern coast. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING ALLOWED IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCE

In one town alone, the port of Minamisanriku, a senior police official said the number of dead would “certainly be more than 10,000.” A plea for help was drawn on the grounds of a local high school.

Firefighters and others watch smoke from burning buildings in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, Saturday morning, March 12, 2011 after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday. (AP Photo/Kyodo News

Black smoke rises from an industrial complex in Shiogama, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, Sunday, March 13, 2011, two days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the the country's northeastern coast. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

Tagajo

Container cargoes gets displaced in Sendai, northern Japan, Saturday, March 12, 2011. Japan launched a massive military rescue operation Saturday after a giant, quake-fed tsunami killed hundreds of people and turned the northeastern coast into a swampy wasteland, while authorities braced for a possible meltdown at a nuclear reactor. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Container cargoes spread out on the ground in an industrial complex in Sendai, northern Japan, Saturday, March 12, 2011. Japan launched a massive military rescue operation Saturday after a giant, quake-fed tsunami killed hundreds of people and turned the northeastern coast into a swampy wasteland, while authorities braced for a possible meltdown at a nuclear reactor. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Sendai

An aerial view of Rikuzentakata, Miyagi Prefecture.

Rikuzentakata

Namegata, Ibaraki prefecture

Soma, Fukushima

A ferry ended up stranded atop a building in Otsuchi.

Members of fire department stand in front of a collapsed factory of precision work in Sukagawa, Fukushima, northern Japan Saturday, March 12, 2011 after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING ALLOWED IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCE

Three shocked employees look at what has become of the factory in Sukagawa city, Fukushima, where moments earlier they had been working

飛行機や車両が水没したままの仙台空港＝仙台空港で２０１１年３月１３日午前９時２３分、梅村直承撮影　毎日

A train pushed off its tracks in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture.

Ishinomaki

In the port town of Kesennuma, north of Sendai, huge fishing trawlers were brought to land by the force of the tsunami.

Residents evacuated to a shelter in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture. March 12, 2011

Rikuzentakada

Sandai

A stranded elderly woman is carried on the back of a Japanese soldier after being rescued from a residence at Kesennuma, northeastern Japan, on Saturday March 12, 2011, one day after a giant earthquake and tsunami struck the country's northeastern coast. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING ALLOWED IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCE

People walk along a flooded street in Ishimaki City, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan on Sunday.

A woman walked by a destroyed house in Daigasaki, near Sendai. March 14, 2011

Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture

There was one bright moment on Sunday morning as Japanese naval forces rescued a 60-year-old man who had been riding the roof of his house for two days. The man, Hiromitsu Shinkawa, was found nine miles south of his hometown and nine miles out to sea.

Urayasu city, in Chiba prefecture.

Minamisanriku

Kagamiishi March 14, 2011

Minamisanriku

Ebisu Circuit　　エビス　サーキット

People walk by a bus stop which was destroyed in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture

Kamaishi　釜石市

Residents shopped for food in a near-empty grocery store in Senmaya on Saturday, as food shortages continued.

Hiori Okazawa, 4, sat by her favorite dress, which was retrieved from the ruins of her home in Ofunato..

Kesennuma

Japan's prime minister called the disaster the country's worst since World War II. A man sat in the rubble in Rikuzentakata.

In the aftermath of the tsunami, a woman sat amid the debris in Natori.

Residents make their way through a devastated area in Sendai, northern Japan Saturday, March 12, 2011 after Friday's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. (AP Photo/Asahi Shimbun) JAPAN OUT, NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT

Yoshikatsu Hiratsuka grieved in front of wreckage where the body of his mother was buried in Onagawa, in northern Japan, on Thursday.

A crying man takes pictures of a devastated area in Minamisanriku, northern Japan on Friday.

Smoke from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Okuma, Japan, on Monday.

Narita airport

Another day of frantic efforts to cool nuclear fuel and spent-fuel pools in the troubled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant resulted in little or no progress, according to United States government officials. Fire trucks converged in Iwaki in preparation for spraying water at the plant.

In this image, taken from footage released by the Japanese Defense Ministry, a fire engine from the Japan Self-Defense Forces sprayed water toward Unit 3 of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex on Friday.

A police officer prays before the body of a tsunami victim who's found in rubble in Sendai, northeastern Japan, on Sunday March 13, 2011, two days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the the country's northeastern coast. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture

The death toll climbed inexorably. More than 3,600 people were confirmed dead and more than 7,800 remained unaccounted for by Wednesday afternoon. The authorities say the number of dead is likely to exceed 10,000.

Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture

Members of the Japanese Self-Defense Force stood by a body in Nobiru, Miyagi Prefecture, on Monday.

気仙沼

Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture

The government ordered 100,000 troops into relief roles in the field — nearly half the country’s active military force and the largest mobilization in postwar Japan. Soldiers recovered a victim's body in Rikuzentakata.

A dead woman lies under a blanket near the stairs of her destroyed home in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Sunday, March 13, 2011 after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake hit its eastern coast Friday. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

EDS: NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT - A victim lies on the futon bed in her house in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture (state), Sunday, March 13, 2011 after being hit by Friday's catastrophic earthquake-triggered tsunami. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A dead man lies on the stairs of a destroyed house in Sendai, northeastern Japan, Sunday, March 13, 2011, two days after the powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the area. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

Sunday, March 13, 2011 4:13 PM

Workers move the body of a dead woman found in the Natori neighborhood of Sendai, Japan, on Sunday, March 13, 2011, that was hit hard by the tsunami in the aftermath of an 8.9 earthquake. Fires continue to burn in the neighborhood as civil servants are finally able to enter the area to search for victims. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/MCT)

A hand of a victim is seen in the debris in Saito village, Miyagi Prefecture, Monday, March 14, 2011 after Japan\'s biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Rikuzentakata

A group of South Korean rescue workers and local policemen pay respect after collecting the body of a Japanese earthquake victim in tsunami-swept Sendai, Miayagi Prefecture on Tuesday.

Rifucho

A couple looked at the body of their daughter, whom they found in the vehicle of a driving school in Yamamoto, Miyagi Prefecture, on Saturday.

An American rescue worker and his dog searched for survivors amid debris in Ofunato, a city with a seawall built specifically to withstand tsunamis. The tsunami crashed over it before moving a few miles inland, carrying houses and cars with it.

Family members watch Japan Ground Self-Defense Force personnel search for remains of a fellow family member in their home in Natori

People carry the body of a victim from a damaged healthcare facility for the elderly in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, Sunday, March 13, 2011, two days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the country's east coast. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO SALES IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCE

Tayo Kitamura, 40, mourned over the body of her mother. Japanese firemen discovered the dead woman inside the ruins of her home in Onagawa.

Tayo Kitamura, 40, touches the covered body of her mother, Kuniko Kitamura, 69, after Japanese firemen discovered the dead woman inside the ruins of her home in Onagawa, northeastern Japan, Saturday, March 19, 2011, following the last week's earthquake and tsunami. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

A search and recovery team in Rikuzentakata, in Iwate Prefecture. Japan's official death toll was raised to more than 8,100 on Sunday.　

Rescue workers removed bodies on Sunday from a highway in Rikuzentakata, Japan, that was washed out by the March 11 tsunami.　

Japanese firemen carry away a body they found where it had been washed into a ravine in Onagawa, northeastern Japan Saturday, March 19, 2011. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

Kesennuma

Members of Japan's self-defence forces carry the body of a victim found in a car amid the rubble at a destroyed residential area of Kesennuma, Miyagi

Bodies found in the rubble are wrapped in blankets in Rikuzentakata, Japan, on March 15.

The body of a victim is marked with a pole after it was retrieved from the rubble in Rikuzentakata

Behind two wrapped bodies lying on a roadside to be picked up by authorities, a woman holds her child next to a taxi she arrived in to check the damaged neighborhood of her family in the earthquake and tsunami destroyed town of Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan Sunday, March 20, 2011. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

Firefighters carry the wrapped body of Kuniko Kitamura, 69, out of the ruins of her home in Onagawa, northeastern Japan, Saturday, March 19, 2011, following the last week's earthquake and tsunami. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

13 Marzo 2011, Rikuzentakata / Foto: REUTERS/Toru Hanai

A man looked for his missing son at a makeshift morgue in Rikuzentakata

Harue Ishikawa, 61, cried over her son's coffin after learning about his death at a makeshift morgue in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.

Cremation of the dead is traditional in Japanese Buddhist practice, but crematoriums are overwhelmed and fuel for the process is scarce. Local municipalities are burying the tsunami victims in mass graves as a temporary solution. March 27, 2011

Ekuko Kimura, 58, cried over her dead son, Taishi Kimura, 31.

People paid their last respects to family members during the mass burial.

An elderly woman cries in front of a destroyed building in the devastated town of Rikuzentakata in Iwate

Soldiers lowered a coffin at a temporary mass grave site in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture.

On Tuesday, the government raised the official death toll upward to 9,079, and said more than 12,600 were missing, although officials cautioned there could be overlap between the figures. The final death toll is likely to reach 18,000, the government has said.